


A Girl From Paris And A Boy From Gotham

by yourfriendlyamateurwriter



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Bisexual Kagami Tsurugi, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Daminette, Fluff, Gay Chloé Bourgeois, Hawkmoth is gone, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila is just a side character, MariBat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Adrien Agreste (BROTP), Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug is Called MDC, OOC everyone, Sabrina Raincomprix Has A Personality, Slow Burn, i don't watch dc, it's in one chapter, knockoff enemies to friends to lovers trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfriendlyamateurwriter/pseuds/yourfriendlyamateurwriter
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and three of her best friends, Adrien Agreste, Chloé Bourgeois and Sabrina Raincomprix move to Gotham for university. She meets Damian Wayne and... well... let's just say, it wasn't love at first sight.Ladybug and Chat Noir have retired after defeating Hawkmoth? Not for long. Apparently, these two kids can't catch a break. Now, another miraculous is being misused? Fuck.Basically, a Daminette fic with some plot, fluff, knockoff enemies to friends to lovers, a sprinkle of Lila and her lies.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -On temporary hiatus. I will pick this story up, but unfortunately, I'm very burned out right now and I don't have the will to do anything. It's definitely temporary, I just don't know where this story is going so I'll need time. If you have any ideas, please tell me them, that would help me update this story.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Sabrina Raincomprix, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi (Implied or Referenced), Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 30
Kudos: 291





	1. Acceptance (Or Rejection?)

“Gotham.” 

“What?”

Adrien, Marinette, Sabrina and Chloe were hanging out in Marinette’s bedroom. Chloe was sitting in Marinette’s desk chair, Sabrina was sitting on the ladder, Adrien was sitting on the floor next to Marinette since she was laying on the chaise while her head was hanging off of it.

“I’m with M, what do you mean, Gotham? Like the crime capital of the world?” Sabrina asked.

“Yeah, it would be a fresh start. Plus, it’s cheap as fuck. Perfect for a bunch of broke bitches right out of high school. Not to mention Gotham University is one of the most prestigious universities in the world,” Chloe said.

“Are you kidding? ‘Broke bitches?’ Adrien is a fucking model, you flaunt your wealth at every chance. My parents own the best bakery in Paris. Sabrina’s dad is the best cop in all of Paris. We are probably the richest students in the school,” Marinette said.

“Shhhhh. I need this for my point, Dupain-Cheng.”

Everyone laughed.

“C’mon! I’m not bringing this out of the blue. Mari, you have a fairly big fan base in Gotham, if you open a boutique, it would do well. Adrien, Gotham is pretty art orientated, modelling would pay great. Plus, your dad wants you to go to a prestigious university and Gotham is one of the best. Sabrina, you could easily get a scholarship. Me, there’s a pretty awesome teaching program. It would be perfect! Please!”

The other three looked at each other, considering her points. After a few minutes of contemplating silence, they spoke.

“Sure, Chlo.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Let’s move to Gotham!”

“Why do you wanna move to Gotham?” Sabrina asked.

“Well, the situation in Gotham is pretty similar to our situation before Hawkmoth was defeated. Supervillains and I know how to deal with those, but I don’t wanna stay in Paris after everything. So, I was thinking maybe I could teach students who don’t know about my past and I’ll know how to deal with attacks.”

“That’s… a great idea, Chlo,” Adrien said.

“Really?”

“Totally! You should have just led with that,” Sabrina said. Marinette nodded in agreement.

“I might not be able to go. Father is pretty insistent about my being in the country where he can keep an eye on me.”

“Adrien, I love you and all, but you’re so dumb. I basically convinced your dad to let you go to New York. With C’s points and their backup, we can do it.”

“Yeah, but this is different. I just don’t want to get any of your hopes up.”

“C, S, let’s start our tactics for convincing him. Adrien, research places in Gotham and the uni requirements. I think we should be good for grades, check our extracurriculars.” They started doing their work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several months later, during the college application season. They went to convince Mr. Agreste. Marinette, Sabrina and Chloe were standing in Gabriel’s office in front of him. Nathalie was by the door.

“Why should I let Adrien go to Gotham University? Gotham is the world’s crime capital. Not to mention how the Hawkmoth situation is finally over here,” Gabriel said with a grimace. Marinette assumed it was because of them interrupting his work. Sabrina stepped forward.

“The Akuma attacks here were for three years, usually in his class, too. If he was okay here, he should be fine in Gotham where there are even more superheroes that will help.” She stepped back.

“I heard Gotham was a dump, I assume the schools are the same. Why would I let my son go to a dump?” Marinette stepped forward.

“Actually, Gotham’s schools are one of the finest in the world. Gotham University is number five in the world, much better than any university in France.” Marinette stepped back.

“When would Adrien do his Mandarin, piano, modelling, fencing and the business major? How do I know he will do it if? If he’s not here, I won’t be able to keep an eye on him.” Chloe stepped forward and the other two had to hold back their sighs. They both prayed Chloe wouldn’t say anything rash like she tended to do when she got bored or angry.

“With all due respect, Uncle Gabriel. Adrikins is fluent in Mandarin. He’s already great and he doesn’t need more practice. He’s got 100% on a complex test. As for modelling, you can easily arrange that from a different country. For the business major, just contact his teachers. He can join fencing in Gotham. About the piano, Adrikins can record himself playing the piano and just send it to you. Technology exists.” Gabriel’s face of no emotion didn’t change, but Marinette could just sense the anger coming from him.

“You do know that you must be fluent in English? Can be Miss. Dupain-Cheng and Miss. Raincomprix speak the language? Can you? Adrien hasn’t studied English.” Marinette was taken aback at his harsh tone.

“Yes, we can. Marinette works with many people from America, she has since we were 13. Sabrina has spoken English since she was little, now she has started studying it extensively since she’s an overthinker who thinks that every American person speaks like a 50-year-old British lady. My mother is the Style Queen who works in New York. You should remember that she did discover you, after all. Do you think she would let me not learn English? Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Also, Felix and Amelie are from England and Adrien is an international model. He may not study it, but he can speak it as perfectly as one can.”

“Fine. He shall attend Gotham University under some conditions. He must keep his grades above 98%. He must model three times per week. He must join fencing. He must play the piano every day and send it to Nathalie. He can stop practicing Mandarin if he is deemed excellent in three tests. Nathalie, let Adrien know of these conditions.”

They all smiled and thanked Mr. Agreste for his time. When they got outside, they squealed.

“We did it!”

“We actually did it!”

“Of fucking course, we did. It would be ridiculous if we didn’t, utterly ridiculous.”

“C, let us celebrate. Gabriel Agreste is scary.”

“Ugh, whatever. We need to finish our applications to see if all that work actually was for something. Also, daddy is having a meeting I need to attend and I need to refresh before I enter a room full of white, cisgender, heterosexual, males. Bye, guys.”

“Bye! Good luck!”

“Good luck, Chlo!” Chloe walked away and Marinette and Sabrina went to the bakery to work on their applications.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They all just turned in their applications and were awaiting the results which would come in a few months. They also applied to Sorbonne University, Columbia University and McGill University.

“I did want to go to Yale or Harvard, but in the end, I decided to attend Sorbonne University so I could be with my friends,” Lila lied through her teeth. 

“Girl, it’s only gonna be me and you there. Maybe, Mari, Chloe, Sabrina and Adrien might be there since they refuse to tell us shit until they get accepted, don't wanna jinx it,” Alya said whilst laughing. Lila looked confused.

“Only, you guys? What about the others?”

“Well, Nathaniel’s going to some art school in like London or something. Max is going to PSL. Nino is going to a music school, here. Ivan, Mylène and Rose are going to a more artistic school here. Juleka’s headed to some school that Adrien recommended, it’s in the states. Alix is going to be training with a coach and she’s not going to university. Kim’s also not going to university, he’s also training with a coach.”

“What about Adrien?”

“I don’t know, he, Sabrina, Chloe and Mari won’t tell us. I think they know about each other’s choice, maybe,” Rose said.

“Huh. I’m sure they’re going to the Sorbonne. I mean, you know that Chloe tends to show off. They’re all probably gonna stay in Paris. Gabriel is overprotective and all.”

“You’re right. I think Mari and Sabrina will go somewhere else. Mari says that Sabrina is actually a genius. Plus, Mari is also smart. She says Chloe is actually really smart, too. I don’t believe it, though.”

Chloe, Marinette, Sabrina and Adrien who were sitting behind them could hear everything and rolled their eyes. Thank every god out there that they would soon leave Paris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was nervous. Tomorrow, they would get the acceptance or rejection letter from Gotham University. They had so much riding on this. They needed to get in or a lot of their work would be for nothing.

When she was asleep after hours of pacing around, she had a dream.

———————————————————— 

Hawkmoth was standing over Ladybug and Chat Noir, grinning. Mayura was at his side.

“You can either give us your miraculous willingly or we’ll take it. The latter is much worse.” Ladybug gritted her teeth.

“Never,” She spat out.

“Okay, time for the hard way.” He reached for Chat’s ring, but Chat called out “Cataclysm”. Hawkmoth flinched, he forgot they had just charged their miraculouses. 

They got up, their limbs may have felt like jelly, but they would defend this city until their dying breath. Mayura suddenly had a coughing fit, Hawkmoth tore his eyes away from the duo and Chat took that moment to kick him in the ribs. Mayura tried to run over to him, but she was really weak.

Hawkmoth landed on his back, he tried to get up, but Ladybug tied him up with her yoyo. 

Hawkmoth got out and ran to the Eiffel Tower with Mayura. The two younger superheroes decided to go after Mayura as she was weak.

She was behind Hawkmoth so they took her out. Ladybug held her in place with the yoyo and Chat took her miraculous. Ladybug let the yoyo unravel itself and saw the miraculous detransforming up to her waist when suddenly, she was dragged by Hawkmoth to the Eiffel Tower. Chat was already there, luckily the miraculous was still in his hand. He gave her the peacock miraculous and she put it in her yoyo storage compartment. 

Hawkmoth smirked and sent out an Akuma, Ladybug purified it immediately. His smirk fell. Chat catacylsmed his staff and Hawkmoth was left with nothing. Ladybug got her lucky charm which was a box made for a butterfly pin or… miraculous. The lucky charm was telling Ladybug to get the miraculous. 

“You can either give us your miraculous willingly or we’ll take it,” Chat said with a smirk. Ladybug joined him.

“The latter is much worse.”

Suddenly, they were standing over Hawkmoth. The scene was a parallel to the scene a mere few minutes ago.

“Never.” He tried to fight them, but without his staff, he was weak.

The fight lasted a few minutes. When Hawkmoth tried to hit Chat Noir, he ducked and grabbed his miraculous. Hawkmoth’s transformation was wearing off and he ran away to escape. Ladybug and Chat Noir were about to go after him when their jewelry started beeping rapidly indicating that they had less than 10 seconds left. They nodded and went to an alley about a few seconds away. It was a close call, but they made it. They were facing away from each other when they retransformed.

“We did it,” Ladybug said, breathlessly.

“We did. Did we? Or was that a fever dream?”

“Because I have my lucky charm and the miraculous in my hand, I’m gonna say no, but I’ll get back to you on that.” He laughed.

“It’s over. It’s finally fucking over!”

“We can stop. We don’t have to hide our emotions or live in fear!”

“Does this mean we have to return our miraculouses?”

“I think so, the Ladybug and Cat miraculous should only be used in dire situations, well, the dire situation has been dealt with. I think we have to give them up,” Ladybug replied.

“Since we have to give up our miraculous, should we reveal ourselves?” He asked, nervousness seeping into his voice.

Ladybug looked at Tikki who was happily munching on a cookie.

“Well, you can! There is no fear! Oh, Plagg, this is great!”

“It sure is. Kid, you did it!” The two heroes were no longer listening.

“On three,” Ladybug said.

“One.” He got ready to turn.

“Two.” She started fidgeting with her hair.

“Three.” They turned and both of their jaws dropped. At this point, they had been friends-friends for a couple of months so Marinette was long over her crush.

“Adrien?”

“Marinette?”

“Oh. My. God.” Adrien laughed at her expression. Then, he remembered everything, inverted. When he carried Marinette, when Ladybug kissed him on the cheek, god. He kissed Marinette. Marinette kissed him. He remembered having a crush on her and flirting with her. He no longer had his crush since he matured and figured out, he was putting her on a pedestal and that wasn't healthy. He remembered calling Ladybug the "Everyday Ladybug".

“You must have freaked the fuck out when I called you our ‘Everyday Ladybug’.” She laughed.

“I was so nervous! I thought you had figured out my secret!” She also remembered everything, inverted. Her kissing Adrien, Adrien flirting with her, her falling in love with Chat Noir. It was an obsession, it wasn’t love, she knew that now, but tween Marinette didn’t.

“I had posters of you on my wall. I had posters of Chat Noir on my wall. Ugh. Ugh! I need to bleach my eyes!” He laughed.

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I have many fans who would probably kill you for saying that.” Marinette was still hyperventilating.

“I used to be one of those fans! I’m gonna go jump off of a roof without my suit. Bye.” He grabbed her arm.

“Please, try to refrain from doing that. I know I’m handsome, but don’t kill yourself over it.” They laughed together, that was the start of one of the best brotps in the world. 

The dream shifted to them on an interview on the Ladyblog.

“Do you have a plan to defeat Hawkmoth once and for all?” Alya asked. The duo grinned at each other.

“We’re pleased to announce-“

“-that Hawkmoth’s reign of-“

“-terror is-“

“-over!” They both said at the same time.

“What? When?” Alya shrieked. 

“Yesterday, afternoon, remember after Trivictory’s akumatization. There was a ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ twice. The second ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ was for when we defeated and captured both Hawkmoth and Mayura’s miraculouses.”

“Where are the miraculouses?”

“With a guardian, I officially gave up my title as a guardian as I just want to live a normal life after all this. The person who is the guardian is wonderful and I trust them with my life. After this interview, we will have one more official one answering all your questions. After the interview ends, no one will ever see us again.”

Alya asked more questions and they answered them, it was hard to tell since the dream was all blurry.

Then the dream shifted to the next day.

The next day, they had the last interview ever of the pair. Since the interview was at night, they went on one last patrol, for fun. They went to their favourite spots. After all that, they went to Uncanny Valley and gave up their miraculouses, but not without an emotional goodbye to their kwamis. 

They would deny it, but everyone was crying that night. Plagg was probably crying the most. Uncanny Valley promised to erase her memory of ever knowing of this exchange after she gave the miraculouses to Jessica.

————————————————————----

Marinette woke up with tears in her eyes after remembering the night, she missed Tikki. She assumed Tikki missed her, too, but she consoled herself after remembering that Tikki was probably having a blast in the kwami world with her friends. Speaking of staying with friends, she checked the time. 6 am, she should have gotten her acceptance or rejection letter right now.

Her phone started buzzing.

~Texts~

The Four Musketeers

Sab - AHHHHHHHHH

Sab - the email is right there!!!!

Queen Bee - group call, rn.

Daddy Issues - yes ma’am

That Bitch - F you all, I was tryna sleep

Queen Bee - bitch, don’t pretend you have a normal sleep schedule

That Bitch - actually, tonite, I got a normal amount of sleep, a full five hours!

Sab - That’s not normal, at all but I know that’s more than you usually get sooooooo GOOD JOB, only took 10 years of us screaming at you to do it

Daddy Issues - can y’all just get onto the call, I’m alone with Chlo, that’s a nightmare

Daddy Issues - she is now screaming some… 

Daddy Issues - expressive language

Daddy Issues - ok Sab is here now and calming her down

Daddy Issues - Mari, get on here rn

~End~

Marinette chuckled and joined the group call.

“Hey, guys. Have you checked your email yet?” Marinette said.

“About to.”

“Same.”

“I was waiting until one of you did it,” Sabrina said.

“Okay, give me a sec. I need to open my email. Okay, on three.”

“One,” Chloe said.

“Two,” Sabrina said.

“Three,” Adrien said. Anyone standing outside any of their rooms could hear the simultaneous clicks.

Marinette read the email.

~Email~

Dear Ms. Dupain-Cheng

This an acknowledgement of your application to the Fashion Design program at Gotham University. We have reviewed your application and all the supporting documents and are happy to inform you of your acceptance to our prestigious programs.

We, hereby confirm your application to the programs. Our next semester officially begins on September 2nd. We recommend, if you’re moving into our dorms, you should begin on August 31st. If you accept our offer, please arrive with the supporting documents.

Welcome to our campus, and we look forward to having you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Roman

~End~

“What does it say?” Chloe said, excitement creeping into her voice. Adrien had a smile on his face. Sabrina’s eyes were bright.

“On three, scream ‘accepted’ or ‘rejected’.”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Accepted!” They all screamed at the top of their lungs.

“Marinette, please be quieter!” Her parents yelled.

“Sorry!” She could hear Nathalie and Roger yelling, too.

“We did it! We can tell everyone! We need to start planning immediately.” Chloe went on, talking about plans until they needed together ready for school. They continued to talk at school. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Girl, what’s got you so excited?” Alya had received her acceptance letter a week ago, so she didn’t know anything special about the day. Marinette sat next to Alya and saw Adrien telling Nino. Chloe and Sabrina were with Juleka and Rose, probably telling them even though she wanted to keep it on the low.

“We got our acceptance letters!”

“So, you’re all going to the same school? That’s great! Where is it?”

“Gotham! We’re going to Gotham University!” Everyone heard and crowded the two. Everyone was really excited for the four. Everyone except Lila. She was seething. She was put on a waiting list for some stupid Paris university and these four dumbasses got into Gotham that easily? She came up with a great lie.

“Oh! Well, when you’re there, can you say hi to my boyfriend? Oh, wait, nevermind, you probably won’t see him.”

“Who’s your boyfriend, Lila?” Alya said, to get that out of the way, she loved Lila, but this was Mari’s moment and she didn’t want to be mean.

“Damian Wayne. Can you keep that quiet? People aren’t really supposed to know.” Marinette spoke up next.

“That’s great, Lila! If I ever see him, I’ll let him know you say hello.” Alya smiled because of how nicer Marinette was to Lila.

“Anyways, where are you gonna live? Are you gonna get a bachelor's degree or a master's degree? What program are you studying? I mean, fashion, of course, but like which courses?” Alya, who was really glad she could speak about their universities to each other, said.

“Well…” That was the start of a very long week.


	2. Is This Gotham's Finest?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explores Gotham, the first day of university and Marinette meets the Ice Prince.

“Dibs on the biggest bedroom!” Chloe said as soon as they walked into the apartment. The apartment was big, especially for just four people, but Chloe insisted that they shouldn’t have to live in anything less than the size of her suite in Paris.

As soon as you walk in, there was a big black piano that Gabriel probably put there. There was a huge kitchen to your right. A huge white marble counter was in the middle. If you looked straight ahead, there was a bedroom. On the left of the bedroom was the living room and some huge window walls. The tv was on the wall that was shared between the bedroom and living room. You couldn’t see more from the door because of the wall separating the rooms. The only reason you could see the living room was because of the arch next to the bedroom.

As you walked in more, you could see there were three rooms, from studying the room plans with Sabrina, Marinette knew the room in the middle was the bathroom. If you were standing under the arch, on your left was another bathroom, next to it was another bedroom.

They explored the apartment. Chloe took the biggest bedroom which was the bedroom on the left side of the living room. Sabrina took the bedroom next to Chloe’s. Adrien took the bedroom across from Sabrina’s. Marinette took the bedroom that people saw from the doorway.

Everyone went into their rooms to settle in and move in.

Marinette’s bedroom had the same windows as the ones in the living room. Thankfully, some curtains could cover the entire window which meant it covered the entire wall. There was a double bed in the middle of the bedroom. On top of the bed was some shelving. On the opposite side of the bed, there was a closet and a desk.

Marinette unpacked the boxes, her creative brain really sped up the process. She finished hours later and looked out at the view of the city at night. They were on the ninth floor so the view was pretty. She could really get inspired by the city.

She left her room and saw Sabrina and Adrien talking at the kitchen counter.

“How did you guys already finish unpacking?”

“We didn’t bring much.”

“Yeah.” Marinette didn’t press further because they clearly wanted the conversation to end.

“Is C out yet?” Sabrina laughed.

“She brought her entire suite, there are boxes still coming.”

“It’s not like we expected anything less. To be honest, I’m still waiting for her to say that this is the wrong apartment and that we’ll actually be living in a mansion,” Adrien said.

“If that happened, I wouldn’t be surprised, actually.”

“Me either, C would do that,” Marinette said.

They laughed and dragged Chloe out of her room, her room was white, black and gold. Like real gold.

They talked and told Chloe to decorate her room tomorrow. For now, they’d explore Gotham.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went to a place called “Lumière De La Vie”. They laughed at the fact that the first place that they go to is a French restaurant.

“Hi, lasagna and water for all of us. Thank you,” Sabrina ordered so she could see how her English was. Perfect, as always. They had started speaking in English on the plane so they could practice and brush up on it.

“Okay, we need to get jobs if we don’t wanna be broke bitches. Ideas?” Chloe said.

“I’m thinking anything with baking since I grew up in a bakery or maybe I can get an internship with a designer.”

“I have modelling jobs booked plus I could teach Mandarin or piano to people.”

“Maybe I could get a paid internship in a doctor’s office. What about you, Chlo?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, I can tutor kids. I can join Adrikins, he can teach people Mandarin, I can teach them French.”

“That could work. So, tomorrow, we try to get jobs after orientation?” Everyone murmured in agreement. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow came and everyone did what they agreed upon. They went to orientation and it was pretty boring considering they had gotten their hands on a map (Thank you, Sabrina.) and memorized the campus. 

After that, everyone went job hunting. Everyone except Chloe, she told Adrien to go find a job with tutoring for her, she was going to decorate her room.

They all split up and agreed to meet up at 6 at the apartment.

Marinette walked around Gotham for a bit. Finding out where the nearest grocery store was, the nearest boutique was, how far the university was from their apartment, for the last question, it was a fifteen-minute walk. After that, she explored the campus, about five minutes away from the university was a bakery/coffee shop that was hiring. Gotham Cafe, really creative.

It was small but had a lot of university students in it. Marinette gave them her resume and they told her that they would call her this Saturday if they were interested.

While she was there, she texted the group chat that they should change the meeting place to the place, everyone said that they would be there in twenty minutes or so and that they had success. She ordered a cold brew and waited.

She looked around for a seat and saw a table with just one man, everywhere else was full so she went over to the table.

“Hi, excuse me, can I sit here? The whole place is packed.” The man looked up and scanned the place… as if trying to confirm her statement? Weird. His blue eyes met hers and he nodded.

“Yeah, sure.” She sat down on the other side of the booth.

“I’m Marinette.” She held out her hand. He shook it.

“Tim.”

“What are you working on, Tim?” She asked since it would be awkward if she didn’t try to make conversation.

“Just some notes on who the worst bat is.”

“Why?” 

“It’s an argument that my family got into. I think it’s a tie between Red Hood and Robin.”

“Do you have any evidence to back that up or is the only evidence, your personal grudge?” He laughed.

“How did you figure out that it’s a personal grudge?”

“I’m observant. Plus, you basically forced out the word, Robin.”

“Yeah, well, I just think they’re the worst bats.”

“Huh. Why did this argument start?”

“I don’t know. In my family, you just learn not to question things.”

“Your family sounds… interesting.”

“It is. So, Marinette, what brings you to this place also known as my second home since I’m basically the sponsor of this place.”

“Well, I will fight you for that title. Caffeine is my true love. That’s why I’m trying to get a job here.”

“Wouldn’t that make me your sponsor if you do work here?”

“I guess it would. Or I could just deny you coffee and you wouldn’t be my sponsor.” He gave an offended look.

“You better not, assuming you do get the job.”

“Well, fingers crossed.”

At that moment, the barista called out Marinette’s name.

“A nitro cold brew? That isn’t enough for the title of ‘Coffee Lord’?”

“Really, how much have you had?”

“Five black coffees.”

“Should I be impressed?”

“I don’t know, should you?”

“Probably not.” From there, they compared their worst and best coffee experiences.

“Well, I should go. Hopefully, I’ll see you around, but my brother’s probably gonna come to this place and tell me I’m not allowed to come here.”

“Hopefully, I’ll see you around, then.”

A few minutes later, Sabrina walked in. Then, Adrien and Chloe walked in together.

They talked about the first day of classes and how they needed to get groceries today because living off of coffee shops and restaurants probably wasn’t healthy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They got groceries on their way back. They decided to make pasta for dinner. It was an… adventure. (A/N - I don’t know shit about cooking so this is all wrong.)

“More water, Agreste! That’s not enough! More!”

“If you want more water, come put it in yourself, Raincomprix!”

“Yeah, do it yourself, Sab,” Chloe said.

“That’s rich, coming from the girl who refuses to cook!”

“Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! I don’t refuse to cook, I just think it’s funny to watch you bozos from the sidelines. Right, Dupain-Cheng?”

Marinette who was doing the most just murmured in agreement. When Marinette got into the zone, she didn’t give a shit about the outside world.

“See, she agrees.”

“Mari isn’t even here, she’s in her own mind palace.”

“Adrien, you’ve watched Sherlock once, stop with the references.”

“Shut up, Chlo. I do what I want to.”

“Do you, daddy’s boy?”

“Oh really, daddy’s girl.”

“Okay, mommy and daddy issues.”

“Right back at ya.”

“Touche.” 

“Can you all shut the fuck up? Literally, I’m the only one doing shit here,” Marinette said.

“We’re trying!” Chloe tried to reason.

“C, we all know you don’t do shit.” Chloe scoffed and started helping. 

They finished much quicker than they expected and dinner was good, some might even argue that it was delicious. Adrien and Sabrina did argue it. Chloe and Marinette argued it was mediocre at best.

After that, they all returned to their rooms for the night. They all wanted to do things before they had to go to bed and face the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette and Adrien were the only ones who had a class in the morning, so they went together. They stopped to get coffee. She saw Tim and waved since he seemed in the middle of something important. He waved back. Adrien signed an autograph for someone in the cafe and they went on about their day.

They didn’t split up until they reached the middle point between Business Computing and Design. They said their goodbyes and went on. 

Marinette settled in for the class. Professor Mountack was standing in front of the class.

“Hello everyone. I am your professor for Design class. This class may seem easy enough at first, but I’m telling you now, if your heart is not in it, you will not pass.” She talked about more introductory stuff such as test dates, outcomes and stuff which was really boring, but Marinette still took notes. Soon enough, the bell rang. Unfortunately, Marinette had another class immediately following Design.

Economics with Ms. Trace. She was probably gonna be late if she didn’t run so she did. She saw the class and slowed down, unfortunately not fast enough since she bumped into someone.

“Tt. Watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” She picked up her book and looked at the guy she walked into. He was scowling.

“Tt. Maybe if you actually paid attention, we wouldn’t be here.” 

“Jeez, I’m really sorry.”

“Tt. I don’t care how sorry you are.” He walked past her into the classroom. 

“And I don’t care how much of an asshole you are, all that matters is that you’re still an asshole,” She muttered. It took her a second to collect her thoughts, it was a habit from the akumas, the slightest negative thought and suddenly, you were an akuma. After that, she frowned and went into the classroom. 

When she walked in, he glared at her. There were only two seats left, she chose the one a row in front of him and could feel his eyes looking at the back of her head. Suddenly, she felt really self-conscious about her hair being down. Then, the teacher started talking and her attention was diverted.

“Hello, I’m Ms. Trace, I will be your Economics teacher for this semester. Economics is known to be difficult so I expect excellence from every one of you. But, I don’t like to be unfair so for the final project which is 33% of your grade and could make or break it, I will give you the entire semester. I’m going to assign your partners today, we shall talk more about the project itself in thorough detail at the end of class. Everyone get ready to get up and move, you will be sitting next to your partner for the remainder of the semester so I hope you haven’t made enemies with anyone yet. Raise your hand when your name is called and whichever name I call first is the one who has to move.” She started calling names, Marinette’s name was called a few names in.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Damian Wayne.” She looked around and saw that the boy was raising his hand. A few people gasped at the name, but Marinette had to suppress an eye-roll. “So much for being lucky,” she thought. She reluctantly moved next to him since the teacher was waiting. Ms. Trace called out more names.

“A minute to get to know your partner and then, we shall be moving on.” Marinette wanted to walk out and drop the class, but she decided Damian was better than Lila, so she would make an effort.

“I’m Marinette.” He didn’t answer until another few seconds.

“Tt. I know. I heard your name.” She hated this boy so much. At least, Lila lied. Wait? Did she just think Lila was better than this asshole? Ugh. God, he sucked. She got that thought out of her head.

“Look, I don’t want to be a babysitter right now so get over it.” 

“Tt. With your ‘clumsiness’ I’m pretty sure you would be the child here.” Marinette wondered if she could harness her previous luck and just deck him here and get away with it.

“So, what’s the deal with you? Daddy didn’t give you enough attention? Or is it mommy issues? Both? Or, are you just an asshole for no reason?” He looked confused for a second but covered it.

“Tt. What’s the deal with you? Other than you having an obvious superiority complex.” She almost laughed.

“I have the superiority complex? You’re the one who thinks everyone is out to get you or whatever.” He was about to retort when the teacher continued talking. They resolved to just ignore each other’s presence for the remainder of the lecture. The introductory lecture was actually interesting since Marinette didn’t really know much about Economics. Throughout the lesson, she could feel Damian’s eyes on her, she didn’t give him a second glance.

After the lesson was over, Damian got up immediately. Marinette was a bit behind him, but she got him to stop.

“Hey! We need to pick a time and place that we can work on this project.” He turned and Marinette swore he looked almost… impressed?

“The project isn’t due for another four months.”

“Never too early to start. So, can I get your number?” He scowled again.

“Why?”

“Dude, I just went over this. We need to work on the project and I’d rather not talk about this for five seconds. Plus, if something happens and you can’t make it, I need to know.” He rolled his eyes.

“Tt. We can discuss this next class.” He turned and walked away. Marinette swore pretty loudly, but no cared. She had another two hours before her next lecture so she would probably just work on some work at that cute cafe a few minutes away.

She went there and Tim was still there. He saw her and invited her to sit since the cafe was bustling with college students also in between lectures. She ordered a regular cold brew and sat down with him.

“Hey! How’s trying to take my ‘Coffee Lord’ title going?”

“Bad. Unfortunately, I’m preoccupied with a little thing called university.”

“So, you do go to Gotham University?”

“Yup.”

“Cool, my brother goes there.”

“Really? Well, maybe I’ve seen him around like once.” He laughed.

“Maybe. You’re not from Gotham, right? You just don’t have a soul-sucking essence around you.”

“How dare you! I will let everyone know my essence is very soul-sucking! And yeah, I’m from Paris.”

“Paris? I wouldn’t think that since you don’t have an accent.”

“Yeah, I’ve spoken English for around four or five years since I own my own business and the clients were from different parts of the world, usually the US.”

“What’s your business?”

“It’s a secret. I can tell you that it’s in the fashion industry.”

“Fashion, huh? I’m stumped, I don’t know anything about fashion, except for a few brands.”

“Judging from that outfit, I can tell.” She laughed.

“Hey! I will have you know that this is my best hoodie.”

“I’m sure it is.” They kept the conversation going before he had to leave because he was supposed to hang out with his brother. Probably the one who went to Gotham University.

“Hey! We never exchanged full names, right?” Marinette asked right as Tim was about to leave.

“Oh. Yeah. Tim Drake.”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” 

He left and she knew that the name was really familiar so she went straight to Google and searched him up. There it was, Tim Drake, adopted son of a billionaire, Bruce Wayne. Wayne… who else had that name? Damian! Damian Wayne, that’s why people were surprised when Ms. Trace called his name. She searched his name up and it was the same as Tim’s. Damian Wayne, son of the billionaire, Bruce Wayne. So, Tim and Damian were brothers, Marinette would guess that Damian was the brother that went to Gotham University. Made sense, he was an asshole and people who were rich/famous were usually assholes. Tim seemed nice, though.

She looked a couple more things up and then, went back to her work, there was only half an hour left until her next lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone say knockoff enemies to lovers? No? Well, too bad.


	3. Friends And Enemies (And Both)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Batfam comes to Gotham Cafe where Marinette is working and meet the girl who Damian hates with a passion.

She walked into Marketing and low and behold, Damian was also there. She rolled her eyes and found a seat as far away from him as possible. The teacher wrote his name on the board, …Mr. Beckham.

He started talking and Marinette wrote her notes, occasionally glancing at Damian. Marinette found marketing very interesting because it could range from an ad to a huge stunt to promote something and if it was done wrong, the company could lose a lot of money. If it was a new company, they could go bankrupt if they didn’t make more than they spent. Interesting stuff since Marinette usually had Jagged or Clara endorse her stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When class was over, Damian came to her.

“Fine.”

“What?”

“We can work on the project together.” Marinette wanted to roll her eyes. Of course, they would work on the project together, that was common knowledge.

“Today?”

“Yes. At the library?”

“What about the cafe a few minutes away?”

“A… cafe? Why?”

“We don’t need to research yet, we just need to plan an outline so a library is pretty unnecessary.” He clearly hated the idea.

“Tt. Fine. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Then, he walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette called Sabrina and started complaining, Sabrina, in return, complained about her class. Apparently, she had Forensic Law and it was tough.

“He’s here, I have to go, talk to you later. Love you. Bye, S.” She put away her phone.

He saw her and sat down.

“Did you have any ideas about which companies we could research?” She asked.

“Wayne Enterprises.” She rolled her eyes.

“Tt. What? Do you have a problem with that?” He asked.

“No, it just figures that you would want to do your father’s company. What, any other company is too low for you?”

“Like you would know anything about companies.” She wanted to punch him, but doing it in a place that you might work at was probably not a good idea.

“I doubt you would either. Probably never even stepped foot in the building.”

“I have. That’s why I’m doing business.”

“Why do you need to do business? I’ve seen plenty of CEOs that have no clue what they’re doing. Don’t worry, you’ll be one of them.” He didn’t answer her and they just sat in silence except for some talking about the date or whatever. They sat there for hours, even after they finished. They did other work.

When Damian was about to leave, Marinette spoke.

“Damian, I’m sorry if that last comment upset you.”

“Tt. It didn’t.”

He walked out. Marinette went back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week went by smoothly. Saturday finally arrived and she got a call.

“Hello, is this Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“I’m Lara Grey from Gotham Cafe, we received your application, well, we’re calling back. You have an interview today, we know it’s short notice, but it’s the only time we have. So, can you make it?” she said.

“Yes! Yes, when is it?”

“4:30.”

“Okay, got it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette nailed that interview. She was pretty confident.

When she got back, Sabrina was watching a movie in the living room. Marinette joined her. Adrien and Chloe, also, joined them when they came back from their tutoring lessons. It was great, people actually wanted to learn French and Mandarin. 

They ordered pizza for dinner and just had a night in.

When they all went back to their bedrooms, Marinette started working on outfits. She was right, the view was really inspiring. She started designing a dress that had the city building at the bottom right up to the midriff, above it was the sky with the stars, the star constellations would take time since Gotham was pretty cloudy and gloomy.

Adrien knocked on her door and walked in, then proceeded to dramatically fall on her bed.

“What do you want?”

“Attention.”

“Go bother C or S.”

“No. S is on a call and Chlo’s trying to get some beauty sleep. You’re up and you have energy, come with me on a walk!”

“Are you an actual cat? Do you also want a leash?” Marinette said whilst finishing up the dimensions. Adrien fake laughed.

“Can we? Please! I need a big strong woman to help me.”

“Haha. So hilarious." She looked at Adrien and sighed. "Ugh, fine. I need inspiration.”

“Yes!” Adrien perked up and grabbed her so they could go, immediately. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is it bad that it’s just occurring to me that we’re in the world’s crime capital walking around without any weapons for fun?” Adrien said when a criminal was pointing a gun at them.

“Yes!” Marinette said.

“Give me your wallets! Now!” The man was so focused on them that he didn’t notice Nightwing landing behind him. Nightwing knocked out with a single punch.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re doing just great,” Marinette said, glaring at Adrien. 

“I’m sorry!”

“You’re sorry? You’re the one who wanted to go for a walk at midnight!”

“My bad,” he said, sheepishly.

“Adrien, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that. It’s sort of my thing to save people and letting someone die in front of me doesn’t work,” Nightwing said.

“See, Nightwing doesn’t think that was stupid.”

“Never said that, it is a pretty stupid thing to go for a walk at midnight in Gotham.”

“Whose side are you on, dude?”

“I’m a neutral party. Who should probably walk you guys home.”

“We’re good, thanks,” Marinette started walking. Adrien walked behind her. Nightwing jumped in front of them.

“I sorta have to, moral code and all that.”

“Ugh, fine. So, what were we talking about before we got so rudely interrupted?” Adrien was glad at the change of topic.

“Damian. He really isn’t that bad, we have a class together. Business Computing.”

“I wish I only had one class with him. Two? It’s like the universe just hates me.”

“Damian Wayne?” Nightwing asked.

“Yeah. He’s an asshole. I said sorry multiple times and he still expects me to beg.”

“You’re exaggerating, Mari.”

“I am not. I can’t believe he’s Tim’s brother. They’re really different.”

“Tim Drake and Damian Wayne? You have some connections,” Nightwing said, chuckling.

“What’s funny?” Adrien asked.

“Ah, nothing.”

“Connections, the only connection I want to Damian is that I was the one who murdered him.”

“Damian is actually alright.”

“That’s only because you’re buddies in the rich and famous club.”

“You’re apart of the club, you just don’t want to be.”

“Nope. I don’t want to be a stuck up brat like the rest of you.”

“M’lady! I am wounded that you think I’m stuck up and a brat.”

“Right, sorry. You’re a spoiled brat with daddy and mommy issues.”

“Thank you!”

“There should really be a club for that, Chloe is the President, you’d be the Vice President and just go to the Wayne family for members.”

Nightwing chuckled. Adrien considered the idea.

“That could work. Where should we have our headquarters?”

“Just storm the White House, coward.”

“Can you design our clothing? Make it as cheap as you possibly can.”

“Nope, it would physically harm me to make horrible clothing. Don’t worry, your uniform will be made of solid gold to make sure everyone knows that you’re spoiled.”

They reached their apartment and parted with Nightwing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Damian. He really isn’t that bad, we have a class together. Business Computing.” The boy, Adrien, said.

Wait, what? Were they talking about a different Damian?

“I wish I only had one class with him. Two? It’s like the universe just hates me.”

“Damian Wayne?” Nightwing asked.

“Yeah. He’s an asshole. I said sorry multiple times and he still expects me to beg.”

He could hear everyone laughing. Damian was silent.

“Dang, Damian, I think Marinette hates you as much as I do,” Tim said.

“I am not. I can’t believe he’s Tim’s brother. They’re really different.” He missed what they were talking about before this.

“Tim Drake and Damian Wayne? You have some connections,” Nightwing said, chuckling.

“I can’t believe we both know her! And you hate each other, that’s weird,” Tim said again. Dick chuckled at the coincidence of it all.

“What’s funny?” Adrien asked.

“Ah, nothing.”

“Connections, the only connection I want to Damian is that I was the one who murdered him.”

“I love this girl! I want to meet her,” Jason said. 

“Why are we talking about a girl?” Bruce said.

“There’s this girl who hates Damian and is friends with Tim. Like hates Damian,” Cass said.

“Why?”

“Because he’s Damian.” Duke said.

“I can’t believe she wants me to apologize. She ran into me and expects me to forgive her immediately.” Damian scoffed.

“Right, sorry. You’re a spoiled brat with daddy and mommy issues,” Marinette said.

“Thank you!” Adrien said.

“There should really be a club for that, Chloe is the President, you’d be the Vice President and just go to the Wayne family for members,” Marinette said,

Everyone except Damian and Dick laughed. Dick did chuckle, though.

“Please do! I wanna be friends with this girl so bad!” Jason said.

“That could work. Where should we have our headquarters?” Adrien asked after a moment.

“Just storm the White House, coward,” she said.

“Yes! I’m down for doing that with this girl!” Tim said.

Everyone was talking at once.

It took a while, but the two got to their apartment and they parted.

“Tim, I am totally coming with you to wherever you met Marinette. Or I might just tag along with Damian to his university,” Jason said. Cass, Steph and Barbara said something about a girl's day out with Marinette.

“I’m coming with you, Jason. I need to meet this girl, again,” Dick said. Duke agreed.

“Thirty-second avenue. Robbery going down.”

“On it.”

“ETA 5 minutes.” Dick took off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sunday, Marinette got another call from Gotham Cafe. 

She got the job! Her first day was officially on Wednesday, she would have training on Tuesday, though. Coincidentally, her official first day was on the same day that she was supposed to meet Damian for another day of fun project planning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Wednesday, she came in for her first day of work. She had already cancelled with Damian.

When she was working, Tim walked in with three other guys.

“Marinette! You got the job!”

“I got the job!”

“I am officially your sponsor, then.”

“Well, I could just not give you any coffee.”

“Please don’t. He’s scary without his coffee,” one of the other men said. She registered the three men.

“Hey, I’m Dick.”

“I’m Jason.”

"I'm Duke."

“Cool, what can I get for you? Lara is looking at me really funny so I need to pretend to do my job.”

“Fifteen espressos,” Tim said.

“A regular coffee,” Dick said.

“A latte,” Duke said.

“Black coffee.”

“Coming right up.”

“We heard from Damian that you hate him or something?” Jason said, grinning.

“Oh, you’re his other brothers, right?”

“That’s us. So, you're the girl Damian keeps talking about. Why do you hate Damian? Please give us as much detail as possible,” Jason said, leaning on the counter.

“I don’t hate him. I just strongly dislike him. Like very strongly dislike.”

“Why? I mean I know Demon Spawn sucks, but why does he suck?” Jason asked, his eyes were still sparkling.

“I don’t know. He was just very cold and arrogant when we met.” Marinette was still taking orders and making them.

“Well, that’s just Damian for you. Did he do something?” Tim asked. 

“Well, I bumped into him and apologized a lot. And I don’t expect him to immediately accept my apology, but he doesn’t have to be so rude and basically, call me ignorant.”

“What do you mean by basically?” Duke asked.

“Well, he said something about ‘if I actually paid attention, we wouldn’t be here’ or some other shit.”

“And that translates to you being ignorant?” Dick asked.

“Well, sorta. It just is sorta harsh to judge someone you don’t know a thing about.”

“I guess. Well, it was lovely meeting you, Marinette. Unfortunately, we have to leave, but we’ll tell Damian that he sucks for you.” The three walked out. Tim was sitting in their regular seat. Marinette just shook her head and went back to work.

After that three other girls walked in. 

"Hi, you're Marinette, right?"

"Yeah."

"You're so pretty!" The girl with blond hair said.

"Uh, thanks?" 

"I'm Cassandra, that's Stephanie and that's Barbara."

"Nice to meet you. So, why are you here?"

"Well, we heard you know Damian and hate him and we're here to talk about anything except that. Like what's your major?"

"Fashion Merchandising and Design."

"That's really cool!" That got the conversation going.

The three girls stayed until the end of Marinette's shift because they wanted to keep the conversation going. This was probably the best first day, Marinette could have asked for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette, Sabrina and Chloe had all gotten home around the same time. Adrien was practicing the piano so he could send it to Gabriel, ugh. If you told Marinette from five years ago that she would hate Gabriel and be living with Adrien, she would have laughed in your face and went on about some rant about Adrien’s eyes. When he was done, they all clapped, his eyes were closed so he didn’t see or hear them come in. He jumped and then, smiled and turned off the phone.

They all went into the living room and decided to just relax and talk again. Marinette had no idea how they got here, but they were talking about types.

“Adrikins has a clear type,” Chloe said.

“What?”

“People with blue hair,” Sabrina said.

“Oh, yeah.”

“No, it’s not!” Adrien said. Chloe sighed.

“Ladybug, don't deny it, we could see your lovesick eyes, Marinette, Kagami, you sorta liked Luka,” Sabrina said when Chloe got up and went to the kitchen.

“He did. He ranted about Luka's eyes once. It was weird as fuck considering we broke up a couple of months before that,” Marinette added.

“Betrayal! I told you that in strict confidence!”

“This is for not agreeing with me that Damian is a dick.”

“Damian? Who’s Damian?” Chloe asked after coming back from the kitchen with ice cream.

“One of the members of the ‘Rich Spoiled Brats With Mommy And Daddy Issues’ also known as RSBWMADI.”

“I’d like to join,” Chloe said.

“Didn’t you hear? You’re the president of the club. Adrien’s the vice president.” 

“Damn. I’m gone for a day and suddenly I’m the president. University sucks.”

“The president of a club, not the country.”

“Same difference.” They laughed.

“Wait, what’s C’s type?” Sabrina asked.

“Girls,” Adrien, Chloe and Marinette said at the same time. They all laughed.

“What’s mine?” Sabrina asked.

“I don’t think you or Dupain-Cheng have a type.”

“Not our fault that both of you are whores,” Sabrina said.

“Sab!” Chloe jumped on her and Sabrina shrieked. Sabrina threw a pillow, but it hit Adrien in the face. Adrien threw his pillow at Marinette. This lead to a pillow fight. The living room was a mess when they were done.

“We’re very mature.”

“Yes, very mature people who just had a pillow fight.”

“How mature of us.”

“We’re extravagantly mature.”

“What a mature word!”

“Well, this very mature person needs to go do some work.”

“So does this mature person.

“As do I, the mature Adrien.”

“Well, mature people, I should go, too.”

They all left.

Marinette went back to her room and worked on her projects and homework. She was up until four in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she walked into Economics, she looked like a mess. No more than the other students, but still, a mess.

She sat next to Damian and basically melted on the spot. He looked semi-concerned. But, with Damian, who knows?

She still took notes, she just had a raging headache since trying to sleep whilst drinking coffee wasn’t the... best idea.

After class, Damian asked if they were still meeting up. She agreed.

Her headache got worse when she entered the bustling cafe a few minutes later than their agreed meet-up time.

“Hey, Lara.”

“Hi, Mari. The usual?”

“Actually, can I just get a medium latte?”

“Coming right up? You don’t look so good, you can still do your shift, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Good. That will be $3.65.” She paid and went to the table then, put her head on the table.

“Are you alright?” Damian asked. At least, she thought it was Damian, she looked up.

He was still frowning and he acted like he was better than everyone. Yup, it was Damian.

“What do you think?” He rolled his eyes.

“Tt. Just asking. So, we’re doing economics of Russia, right? I did some-“

“Nope. Shhhhh. Peace and quiet, please.” He frowned. He was about to say something when Marinette interrupted him.

“Can we just make a truce? I’m sorry for everything I said. What about for the rest of this project, we just are civil, alright?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Um, you were saying something about Russia’s economics?”

“Tt. I can just email you the key points. You should go home, Dupain-Cheng.”

“Everyone just calls me Mari.”

“Okay?”

“I mean, call me Mari. Or at least, Marinette, Dupain-Cheng is reserved for C. And, I’m not leaving, I’m gonna have to come back, I’ll just stay here and actually help.” Marinette helped for a total of five minutes before promptly, falling asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette didn’t see this as she was asleep, obviously, but Damian didn’t do any work, either. He was too busy looking at Marinette and how beautiful she looked when she slept. Was that creepy? It was probably creepy so Damian tried to do work. He couldn’t get Marinette out of his head. What was happening? He shook the thought of anything about Marinette out of his head, which failed, and went to work which was mostly revising his already made points.

He looked at the time and he decided that he should probably wake up Marinette so he lightly shook her arm. She stirred and woke up.

“Oh, I fell asleep, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I recommended you went home, anyway. Well, the Marketing lecture is happening soon so we should get going.”

“Oh, yeah. Luckily, my stuff isn’t sprawled on the table. Oo, coffee! It’s still somewhat warm, too!” That was cute, nope. Nope, nope, nope, Damian wasn’t doing this.

Marinette helped Damian pick up the stuff and they walked to Marketing together, only because they had the same class. It was just a coincidence! Did Damian want to be around Marinette? Nope, nope, nope. Damian just doesn't like her. That's the reason. Is it? It is! Is it?


	4. The Embarrassing Uncle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jagged Stone comes to town.

“Girl! Three weeks! Three weeks I have gone without seeing my daughter!” Alya said. Adrien and Chloe were snickering in the background since they were all in the living room. 

“I’m not your daughter, you’re literally a month older than me.”

“I helped you embrace your true personality thus giving birth to the Marinette we know and love today.”

“You didn’t do shit.”

“I did!”

“No.”

“Ugh. Fine. I’m still mad at you for ignoring me!”

“We texted yesterday.”

“No contact! I almost forgot your voice!”

“We literally texted in voice memos a few days ago.”

“Shhhhh. Let me have this, Mari!” Marinette turned to Adrien.

“Doesn’t that remind you of someone?” She said with a pointed look at Chloe.

“Definitely.” She turned back to Alya.

“Seriously, you and Chloe would be great friends if you got past your stupid childhood rivalry.”

“That good-for-nothing reporter? Ugh,” Chloe said.

“Little miss. never lifted her perfectly manicured hand? I’d rather jump off the Eiffel Tower,” Alya said.

“Why the Eiffel? I’ll help you jump off the Empire State Building,” Chloe replied.

“Okay! So, what did you wanna talk about?”

“What if I just wanna hear your angelic voice and look at your pretty face?”

“Sure. What’s the real reason?”

“Actually. That is the reason. I do have some news though! It’s exciting!”

“Okay? What is it?” Marinette pressed on.

“I’m coming to Gotham!”

“What?”

“I know! Our Journalism class is coming to Gotham for two months! We’ll be doing an in-field assignment! Like explore Wayne Enterprises and write a rough draft about something interesting about the company! Whoever writes the best one will get to write a real story which will be published in the paper of Paris!”

“What? Oh my god, that’s awesome!”

“I know! This soon, too! It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity! We’re coming at the end of the month!”

“Okay, but how? Al, I love you, but you’re in your first year. Most people don’t get one until at the very least, late second year.”

“I know, a once in a lifetime opportunity. The teacher submitted a request for first-year journalist classes to switch with each other. They picked the two similar yet different classes or something. I don’t know, the teacher didn’t tell us much about it. Point is, I’m coming to Gotham!”

“Well, that’s amazing! I can’t wait! Do you need a place to stay?”

“Well, Lila and I decided we’d just stay in a hotel.” Chloe and Adrien groaned.

“Lila’s coming?”

“Well, duh. We took the same classes.”

“What’s her major?”

“Journalism. She said she wanted to know the ins and outs of it, so she’ll know what to expect when Damian proposes.”

“Damian Wayne?” Marinette asked. Adrien burst out laughing.

“Yeah. Why? You already know this.”

“Oh, yeah. I told Lila that I would say hi to him if I ever bumped into him.” Adrien laughed even harder.

“You did?”

“Like a few months ago.”

“Oh, I doubt that she thinks you’ll run into him.” Adrien was practically dying beside her.

“I bet she’s really excited to see Damian.”

“Oh, yeah. She was so excited that she barely spoke at all.” The poor blonde literally couldn’t breathe and was on the floor, mumbling something about ’The irony, Mari! The irony!’

“Has she told Damian, yet?”

“She wants it to be a surprise.”

“How... sweet.”

“Yeah, she says that Damian is always so sweet to her and he’s always doing big things for her so she’s doing this for him.”

“Cool. Is anyone else we know coming?”

“Nope.”

“That’s too bad. Anyways, how’s school?” They talked about this for the next hour before Alya had to go because it was getting late in France.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since their truce, a week ago, the two had started meeting up more. At the rate that they were going, they could have been done the rough draft of it by the end of the month which was in a week. They could have been done earlier if there wasn’t an unexpected… surprise.

The duo was working on the project in the cafe, like usual, when someone burst in. No one noticed because the place was already filled with noise, in fact, the only time it wasn’t packed was at four in the morning and that was only because that was when Lara, Marinette or whoever was working at the time had to tell them to go home.

The man with the eccentric purple hair looked around for a couple of seconds before his eyes landed on Marinette who was sitting in the booth right next to the door. Marinette was looking down at some books which they had checked out earlier when she looked up and saw Jagged. He grinned and came up to their table. Penny was with him.

“Mari! My favourite rock n’ roll honorary niece!” He sat down next to Marinette.

“I’m pretty sure, I’m your only rock n’ roll honorary niece.” He laughed.

“Of course! But, you’re still my favourite! Why didn’t you tell me you moved?”

“I didn’t know whether I would actually move to Gotham, then, I was really busy with getting the apartment done and packing,” Marinette started to explain herself. Damian raised an eyebrow.

“Oh! Uh, Damian, meet Jagged Stone. Jagged, meet Damian Wayne.”

“You’re Bruce’s kid? That’s actually what I wanted to talk about! Well, the Wayne Gala is coming up in two months, right? So, I want you to-“

“That’s Jagged Stone!” Someone shrieked and suddenly, everyone was surrounding Jagged.

Penny sighed and explained the situation. Marinette gave them her new number and Penny said they would call or text her soon. Damian suggested leaving and Marinette agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went to Marinette’s apartment where no one was because they were either at their jobs or university or had a class. Despite that, they went into Marinette’s room.

“So, what was that?” Damian asked after Marinette said he could sit down. He looked awkward standing.

“Oh, well the Wayne Gala is coming up, I mean, you know that, obviously. Well, Jagged wanted me to design his suit and something else. Penny couldn’t tell me so she should be texting me soon,” Marinette said after sitting down at her desk.

“Why would Jagged Stone want you to design his suit?”

“Well, I’m sort of his designer. Sort of.” Damian looked… impressed.

“You’re eighteen, right? How long have you been a designer?”

“Actually, I'm seventeen. I moved up a grade. I started designing when I was six. I first got approved by Gabriel Agreste in a competition. Then, I officially got into the industry when I designed some glasses for Jagged Stone. After that, I basically became his go-to designer. And at one point, I got recognized by Audrey Bourgeois.”

“Wow. When did you achieve all of that?”

“When I was thirteen and fourteen. I started my own business after that and now, I’m here.”

“You have a business?”

“Yeah.” Damian looked around her room and saw a lot of fashion magazines and designs.

“Are the designs yours?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve seen the suits before. My brothers have shown me them and then, complained about how they couldn’t get them. So, you’re the mysterious MDC?”

“I was really hoping you wouldn’t know anything about fashion,” Marinette muttered. Damian chuckled. Marinette had never heard him laugh so she was a bit surprised.

“Well, I don’t. But, my brothers haven’t shut up about MDC for the last four years. I suppose I should thank you for that.” She sat down next to him.

“You’re welcome. Can you, uh, not tell anyone? It’s just a bit weird, and it’s not that I don’t trust you but-” Marinette rambled on when Damian cut her monologue short.

“I get it. I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” he said softly. They realized how close they were sitting and jumped apart. They both turned various shades of red.

“We should get back to work,” Marinette said.

“Yeah. Yeah, we should.” They worked for a couple of hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Damian was leaving, Adrien came in with groceries.

“Mari! You will not believe it! I saw-“ Adrien paused. 

“Wayne,” Adrien nodded as a way of greeting.

“Agreste. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Marinette.” He left Marinette and Adrien staring at each other.

“So, what happened with you trying to kill Damian?”

“Truce. So? What will I not believe?” This got Adrien excited.

“Okay, so I saw Jagged Stone! He’s here! In Gotham!”

“I know. Penny’s supposed to text me about something. I should probably get started on his suit.”

“Can I watch? Your design process is so weird and entertaining. Plus, I’m bored.”

“No.”

“Please!”

“No. Don’t you have that piano solo to do?”

“You suck!” Adrien yelled at her retreating form.

“Thank you!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jagged almost broke Marinette’s door. 

It was Saturday and Marinette had the day off. No university, no job, a lot of work. Marinette had finished a lot of her commissions, she had finished half of her schoolwork, she was just working on Jagged’s suit. 

She had taken his regular colours, gold and black and made it into a half-half tuxedo. The right side of the suit was a darker gold-yellow colour. The left half was black with purple “splatters”. If you looked closely at the “splatters”, they were actually music notes, guitars, Fang. The inside of the jacket had one splatter on the inner pocket. It was a girl with short hair and she was holding a pen. Huh? Looked like Penny, oops. (It was not a mistake, but she would deny it if anyone asked.)

Jagged had burst into her room.

“Mari!”

“Hey. How did you get in here?”

“Nevermind that.” Marinette was genuinely concerned. Jagged wasn’t a criminal, but he was... eccentric. If anything was what he deemed “rock n’ roll”, he’d probably do it. No, wait scratch that, he'd definitely do it.

“So, ooooo, is that my suit?”

“Yeah. I decided that I’d use your original colour pallet so it’s easier to recognize you. I know that it’s a mix between Beetlejuice and Joker, but I feel it represents you yet also shows Gotham.” Jagged hugged her.

“Marinette, you’re awesome! That’s a rock n’ roll idea! Do ya need my measurements again?”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since the last time I did this and I want the suit to be form-fitting.” It took around ten minutes before Marinette was finished with the first part of designing. She had also gotten some materials earlier so all she needed to do was the tuxedo itself.

“Okay. I can’t wait any longer. Mari, would you like to attend the Wayne Gala?” Marinette laughed.

“Of course,” she said, not understanding the implication.

“I meant, would you like to attend the Wayne Gala with Penny and me? I think we should introduce you as MDC to others and open up your clientele.” Marinette dropped everything, literally.

“What?” Jagged laughed.

“It’d be so rock n’ roll! No one would expect MDC to be revealed at a Wayne Gala!”

“I don’t know. Do you think it would be good?” Penny walked in at that moment looking annoyed.

“Jagged! Scaling a building? We almost got a lawsuit! Hi, Mari, how are you? I’m sure that Jagged’s already told you about the invitation.” It wasn’t a question, but Marinette answered, anyway.

“Yeah. Should I do it? I don’t know. Would it be good for my business?”

“It would. The publicity would lead to a lot of business. But, before we do that, we need to continue building your company. We already have your potential employees lined up, We just need you to pick them.” 

“Okay. Where should we start with?” Marinette replied.

“Let’s start with the US, it will help while you’re here. Then, we can move to France.” While Marinette was working on the suit, Penny and Marinette talked about the company with Jagged occasionally chiming in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next day, everyone got up early because of their early classes or jobs or projects. Jagged and Penny came to their apartment early, too.

“Jagged? What are you doing here?” Marinette asked.

“Well, Penny wants to help you start the company which is going to be so rock n’ roll! Plus, I’m having a show here, tomorrow which you all are totally going to come to!”

“Fun!” Sabrina exclaimed. Chloe hid a smile and just nodded before going to her room, a audible squeal was heard in the background. Adrien grinned. Marinette sighed at her roommate and best friends’ reactions. Looks like they were going to a concert on a Tuesday. Yay.

Marinette grabbed the tickets and hid them in her room because the other three were great at losing things, the number of things that were lost in this apartment was uncanny.

Marinette left for her Colour Theory lecture while the others were way too excited about a concert that they had been to, many times before. He had just released a new album, so, that would be fun. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colour Theory was alright. Then, she went to the club fair that they were doing after everyone settled in. Marinette signed up for two clubs, Art Club and the Video Gaming Club. She thought about joining the French Club, but she already had a lot on her plate and if anything, she shouldn’t overexert herself as much as she did in high school. Maybe, another time.

Video Gaming club took place on Sundays and it was mandatory to come once a month. Art Club took place every day and it was mandatory to attend once a week.

Marinette attended the art club for a couple of hours before going to the cafe for her job. Cassandra and Tim were there. Tim was in the regular booth by the door and Cass was sitting at the bar-esque counter next to the cashier and dessert display.

“Hey, Cassandra,” Marinette said whilst putting on her apron.

“Hi.”

“So, what can I get started for you?”

“Strawberry macarons and a vanilla latte.”

“Good choice. So, what’s up?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to hang out with you.”

“Awww. Thanks! Do you wanna hang out when my shift is over?”

“Yeah! Have you gone to Noras Gym? It has a cool parkour thing and you mentioned liking parkour last time.”

“Sounds fun, Cass. I’ll be back in a second.” Marinette headed over to the cashier's register and made the orders of a few people. Since it was club week at the university, the cafe was less packed.

“Hey, sponsor. Espresso?”

“You read my mind, Caffeine Lord.”

“Caffeine Lord? Firstly, I thought it was Coffee Lord. Secondly, I thought we were fighting for that title.”

“I changed it. Secondly, unfortunately, I am, but a mere sponsor compared to what Damian told me.”

“What did Damian tell you?”

“Last time you were together, you had five energy drinks, ten espressos, three lattes and you were still ordering. I’m not saying the words.”

“No, you will say the words. I would’ve said it.”

“I refuse to say it.”

“If you don’t say it, I won’t give you coffee.”

“What? No! I need coffee! It’s the only thing keeping me alive!”

“Too bad. No coffee for you… unless you say it.”

Tim sighed before looking around.

“You won,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“You won,” he said slightly louder.

“What was that?” Tim sighed.

“You won,” he said in a slightly louder than normal voice. Cass started laughing. When they looked at her, she was filming the entire encounter.

“Cass, delete that footage.”

“Oh sure, I’ll do that. Oops, I accidentally just sent that video to the group chat and Marinette. Oh, what a shame. That’s too bad.” Cass was laughing like a maniac. Marinette joined in. Tim glared at both of them before going back to his own table.

“I really like you, Marinette.”

“Why, thank you! I like you too, Cassandra.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Marinette got off from her shift, Cassandra and she went off immediately. 

The parkour was really fun.

They warmed up in the medium level before going to the high level where there were challenges. There were a total of five other people there since it was a Monday evening and people’s idea of fun isn’t parkour.

The first challenge was getting across a thin plank with holes in it, Cassandra did backflips across it. Marinette did cartwheels across the plank and launched into a front flip when the holes came. There were more challenges, but it all led to the final showdown. The people had to knock each other off with a heavy foam stick. 

There were no rules other than don’t use your feet or hands. Cassandra and Marinette teamed up and soon, they were the only ones left.

“Want me to go easy on you?” Cassandra said. Marinette chuckled.

“I think I should be saying that to you.”

“So, that’s a no? You’ll be regretting that decision, soon.”

“Doubt it.”

They both charged, avoiding the holes in the floor. Cassandra pushed Marinette towards a hole. Marinette jumped into the hole, holding onto the edge and climbed towards another hole where she emerged. Cassandra tried to hit her in again, but Marinette did a somersault and popped up behind her. Marinette went for Cassandra's legs and she stumbled a bit before hitting Marinette’s dominant arm. It threw Marinette off a bit which is what Cassandra wanted before hitting her in the back. Marinette stumbled towards a hole and did a flip over it and landed on the other side.

This went on for a fair amount of time. The border got smaller and smaller. In the middle of the arena was a giant hole. When they were standing right next to the hole, Cassandra suddenly ducked and hit Marinette’s legs before getting up and hitting her in the stomach. Marinette fell into the hole and into the foam pit below. Cassandra threw her foam spear into it which hit Marinette on the head.

“Hey!” 

Cassandra chuckled before jumping in, herself. They got out and left the gym.

“That was awesome! We should do that more often!”

“It was, I was expecting you to be much worse, to be honest.”

“Same. That’s why it was fun, you were so much better than I expected.”

“I guess, I wish I could do that with you every day, how about tomorrow? Wait no, that wouldn’t work. We’re going to a concert,” Cass said.

“Same! I’m going to a Jagged Stone concert.”

“That’s the one we’re going to! So, will I see you there?”

“Yup! You’ll see me with three idiots who are way too excited.”

“You’ll see me there with five idiots plus Steph and Barbara.”

“I assure you, my idiots are more idiotic than your idiots.”

“Oh! You want an idiot-off? Let’s do an idiot-off!” They exchanged stories all the way back to the cafe where they split up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, twenty hours from the last scene, there were four idiots in the kitchen.

“Seriously, it’s a concert, not a gala! You don’t have to wear your finest ball gown!” Sabrina tried to reason with the blondes.

“It’s our first event in Gotham! We need to look fabulous!”

“C, Adri, shut up and just wear the clothes, I made for you last year. We’re going to be late!” Marinette said.

“Just because you look like an angel reincarnated doesn’t mean the rest of us do,” Chloe said before stalking off to do as exactly as Marinette said. Adrien emerged from his room wearing a black MDC hoodie which has a cherry blossom tree on it, if you looked closely, the leaves had letters on them which spelled out ‘Emilie Agreste’. Sabrina was also wearing a hoodie which was similar, it has a pastel background and a black tree which in dark grey had Sabrina’s name written on the trunk. Chloe came out a few minutes later wearing an MDC dress with a flower field on the bottom and there was a bee on one of the flowers. It was white at the top. Marinette and Sabrina rolled their eyes. ‘Rich, famous kids. Ugh,’ it seemed to say.

“Great. Can we leave now? I need to introduce you, idiots, to Cass.”

“We’re not idiots!” Adrien tried to defend them. Chloe and Sabrina were about to say something.

“Peanut butter incident.” The three of them blanched at this and promptly, shut up. They followed her out of the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cass!"

"Nette! Hey!" Cass and Marinette introduced everyone to each other.

"Wait, is that an MDC Original?" One of them asked. Everyone else, excluding Damian, started talking to them about it and practically hounded the three.

Damian stood next to Marinette.

“Tt. I’m sorry about my family. The only one who knows how to act in public is Cass.”

“I think it’s hilarious. I’m honoured that the Waynes even think my designs are cool.”

“Cool? Tt. Whenever we mention anything even remotely, related to clothes, my siblings find a way to bring your name up. It’s annoying.”

“So are you, but you don’t see me complaining.”

“Actually, the last time we did the project you complained about my weird texting when you saw my messages.”

“You need to stop texting like Captain Holt. And I’m finding new things to complain about you, right now.”

“You always do.” Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. Damian chuckled.

Soon, the four went into the concert hall to shake the Waynes off. Despite the fact that the concert hadn’t started yet, Adrien was giving Marinette a piggyback ride and Chloe was giving Sabrina a piggyback ride.

The concert, then, started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the concert was over, Marinette went backstage alone because Sabrina wanted to crash, Adrien saw a cute boy and Chloe was supposed to FaceTime Kagami.

“Penny?”

“Over here, Mari! Okay, France, we only need a few-“ Marinette was there for hours, at least, they got the company side done. 

Jagged and Penny offered to take Marinette home, but Marinette refused to burden them with any more work.

She decided to walk, she was two blocks away from her apartment, it wasn’t that far, she tried to reason with herself. Nothing bad would happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something bad did happen. Another robber, jeez, did crime never sleep? Like, come on! Marinette was about to punch him, but, someone showed up. It was Robin.

“Are you okay, Mar- miss?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Uh, thanks for the… whole saving me thing.” Robin chuckled, that was strangely familiar. Well, the feeling that Marinette got was familiar. 

“It’s sort of my whole thing. Saving people that is.”

“Yeah, I really need to stop walking at night. You’d think I would have learned my lesson when Nightwing had to save us.”

“Us?”

“I was with Adrien at the time.”

“Who’s Adrien?”

“My… friend. Shit! I need to message him and let him know that I’m not dead!” Marinette pulled out her phone and texted the group chat.

~Texts~

The Four Musketeers

Daddy Issues - Mari? Where tf are u??? 

The Only One W/ A Braincell - Is she not home? I just woke up

Queenie - We’re in the living room despite us feeling dead

Queenie - Dupain-Cheng, where r u?!!!!

The Only One W/ A Braincell - M! Answer us before we call the police

That Bitch - SORRY!

That Bitch - I was with Penny, then I lost track of time, then, I almost got robbed and now I’m with Robin lol

Daddy Issues - WHAT?!

Daddy Issues - wtf do u mean “I almost got robbed”

That Bitch - I almost got robbed. Wanna hear it in French? J’ai failli me faire voler.

Daddy Issues - le sigh

The Only One W/ A Braincell - just get home rn

The Only One W/ A Braincell - we’ll talk when u get home

~End~

“Sorry! My friends were really worried!”

“It’s fine. I should escort you home.” They started walking.

“Uh, thanks. You were saying something, earlier.”

“Yeah. I was just asking who Adrien was? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Ye-“ They were cut off by Marinette’s phone ringing. She gave an apologetic look.

“Hello,” Marinette said.

“MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG! WHERE ARE YOU? YOU SCARED US SO MUCH!” Chloe screamed. Marinette had to move the phone away from her ear. Robin could easily hear it. Anyone in the block could hear it.

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”

“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT! BUT, ALSO ARE YOU OKAY? LIKE THE ROBBER DIDN’T HURT YOU, RIGHT? I SWEAR TO GOD IF ANYONE HURT YOU, I WILL KILL THEM!”

“Can you scream louder? I don’t think anyone back in Paris heard you.”

“Haha. Seriously, where are you?”

“A block from the apartment. Luckily, your screaming didn’t deter me.”

“Ugh, get home soon. Don’t tell anyone but I do *incoherent mumbling*”

“What?” Chloe mumbled something.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Ugh, I love you.” Marinette grinned

“Yeah, can you say that on camera and then, send it to me.”

“Never. Bye.”

“I love you, too. Bye.” Chloe hung up.

“Who was that?”

“One of my best friends. I was supposed to be home an hour ago and well, this is Gotham, so.”

“I get it. Why are you out this late?”

“Well, I was with my friend, we were just discussing… business. We just got distracted.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be out so late. After eleven, it’s best to stay inside.”

“I know. I know. Well, uh, the apartment is right there. Thanks for, uh, escorting me home.” Marinette walked back, when she turned back, Robin was gone.

She didn’t see him on the roof watching her enter, she didn’t see his smile, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, should I add smut? Because I've never tried and maybe I should? I dunno, tell me what you think.


	5. We Just Wanted To Retire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A miraculous gets stolen by... Batman? Chat Noir and Ladybug must return. (The plot is here plus some nice Daminette fluff.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, it's been... a while. Ten days? Here's a 6000-word chapter to say sorry.

The black silhouette kicked Eagle in the stomach before grabbing one of the boxes which were spilled across the floor. Uncanny Valley grabbed the other boxes before helping Eagle up. When Uncanny Valley was sure that Eagle was fine, the black shadow was gone. They looked at each other and frowned. Eagle’s was bigger. They nodded and Eagle went after the shadow, Uncanny Valley went to hide the box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours after sunset, inside an apartment complex, Aeon and Jessica were pacing around the room.

“We lost it! We fucking lost it! Ladybug and Chat Noir trusted us and we failed them!”

“It was only the monkey miraculous,” Aeon tried to reason.

“It still is horrible! She mentioned what it does. It may not be the most important, but in the wrong hands, it could be deadly.”

What should we do?” Aeon asked.

Jessica stopped pacing and started staring at a corner in her room, there was a bookshelf, if you followed her gaze, she was looking at a brown, wooden box. It was smaller than the black box with red intricate detailing which was beside it. 

“We could use it. This qualifies as an emergency. But, then, they would know.”

“They deserve to know. We can’t hide this from them.” Jessica sighed and got the burner phone. She remembered what the Parisian heroes said was the rule, keep the texts short just in case the burner phone gets stolen so nothing will be leaked in incase of that unfortunate possibility.

~Texts~

Unknown Number - Eagle.

Other Unknown Number - Ladybug.

Ladybug - Emergency?

Eagle - We may have… lost it.

Ladybug - The entire box?!

Eagle - NO! Of course not! Just one of them.

Ladybug - More info, remember rule.

Eagle - X was trying to get some nice jewelry, accidentally stole the Y, Y is monkey. Happened hours ago. X in Gotham.

Ladybug - Gotham, Gold Apartment Complex, rooftop, now. Horse.

Eagle - Uncanny?

Ladybug - Yes.

~End~

Aeon and Jessica looked at each other, grabbed the horse miraculous, after changing into their superhero forms, and went through the portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They landed on a dingy yet modern looking rooftop. Suddenly, the door in the far corner of the roof opened and two people walked out. One was a girl with blue hair whose face was wearing a frown. The other was a blond boy who had an identical expression.

“Marinette? Adrien?” Eagle looked confused. The two people who couldn’t figure out a door were Paris’ heroes? If they hadn’t defeated Hawkmoth, already, Jessica would say that Paris was doomed.

“You lost it?” Marinette was seething. Eagle sheepishly looked at them, all thoughts about the heroes were out the window.

“Yes,” Uncanny Valley said, her face was full of despair.

“The monkey miraculous?” Eagle nodded, “How?”

“We were fighting someone who tried to take the fox pendant. It wasn’t stolen, we fended him off. Whilst, Eagle was putting the miraculous back into the box, he came back and knocked a few miraculous out of the box. Eagle distracted him while I picked up the fallen miraculouses. I had picked up the last miraculous before I tripped and the miraculouses rolled out of my hand. Eagle looked at me and he took the moment to kick her and grab the nearest box before running off. We couldn’t catch him in time. He’s probably, well, back here,” Uncanny Valley explained.

“Why was the box with you in the first place? You should never, and I mean never bring the box out in public unless it’s life and death! I taught you this, Jessica!” Jess winced at the use of her real name. Marinette couldn’t give a shit. Adrien tried to calm her down, when he saw that wouldn’t help, he turned back to the American heroes.

“How do you know that he’s in Gotham?”

“His name is The Shadow-“ 

“How original. Let me guess, he wears all black and moves like a shadow,” Marinette said, sarcastically. Jess would have laughed, but she was still sad about her losing the miraculous, so she just nodded.

“This is his territory, he’s never been seen anywhere except Gotham, except when he showed up to New York. That’s why we were looking for him. We checked and he’s been seen in Gotham since the miraculous robbery.”

“Ugh. Get on with what you want to say, Jessica. You’re clearly about to explode,” Marinette said in a cold tone. Jessica burst.

“I’m so sorry! I mean you trusted me, not only with the Eagle miraculous, but you also made me a guardian and I failed you! I know I shouldn’t complain, but it was hard! I had to do my regular stuff whilst being a superhero while I’m the guardian! I know I messed up and I would understand if you took the eagle miraculous from me! I was horrible. I was with the box outside because we were moving, but I couldn’t keep the box with the regular stuff so I brought it with me while fighting him and I failed! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!” Jessica was next to tears, Marinette’s expression softened, she went to the girl and hugged her.

“It’s alright, I mean it isn’t, it still sucks, but I get it. It’s a lot of pressure. I think you can do it, but it stretches a person thin. I shouldn’t have given you that responsibility.” Jess looked heartbroken and stepped back.

“Yeah. I get it. Wings fall,” she took off the miraculous and gave it to Marinette.

“No! That’s not what I meant! You can keep the miraculous! You’re an awesome superhero! I meant that you should give me the guardianship. It’s not that I don’t trust you! I just- you don’t need this much responsibility. New York is huge and there are already guardians there, I think that you should train under them and become the guardian there, I’ll give you an awesome review, but this. It’s too much for one person. Keep being Eagle and be awesome at that. Let me worry about everything else, okay?” Jessica smiled and hugged Marinette, again.

“Thank you for not hating me forever and not taking back the miraculous.”

“I would never do that. Plus, it’s not my miraculous to take back. How about we keep this between us? I have a feeling that the New York guardians won’t be as lenient.” Jessica nodded. 

“Let’s go inside and figure all this out,” Adrien said. They all went inside after Aeon detransformed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh. My. God. Why was Dupain-Cheng pissed? She was legit about to kill someone,” Chloe shouted when they walked into the apartment. Jessica was clearly uncomfortable.

“Shit. Uh, Chlo, can we tell you this later? We just need some privacy right now,” Adrien said. Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, fine. You two will be telling me about this, later. Sab and I are just going to have a relaxing night in my room. Whenever you’re done with this utterly ridiculous thing, come join us.” She grabbed Sabrina and went into her room.

The four went into Adrien’s room.

“Okay, so, Jessica, hand over the guardian title to me.”

“Uh, what do I say?”

“Okay say these exact words.” She wrote it down and handed it to Jessica.

“I, Jessica Keynes, relinquish the miracle box and name Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the new guardian.”

Marinette could feel the power seeping through her bones. Jessica felt really tired.

“Sit down. Okay, we need a plan,” Marinette said. 

For hours, they brainstormed ideas left and right. Then, things started to fall into place and they knew exactly where the miraculous was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four were back on the roof, a parallel to what occurred hours ago. Things were the same yet so different. Jessica came in with a heavy heart and left feeling better than ever. Aeon was confused at first, now she was confident in her friends. Marinette had been ready to kill the two girls, but, now she was happy that it happened, though if this happened again, she would kill them. Before Adrien was scared of another Hawkmoth situation, now, he was just sad to see his friends leave.

“Bye, guys! We’ll let you know how it goes!” Adrien said.

“Remember, the burner phone may be for emergencies, but you have our numbers for non-hero related things.”

“Yes, mom,” Jessica said.

“You two are very different and much more comfortable with each other. Are you two dating?” Aeon asked. Adrien and Marinette burst out laughing. Adrien recovered faster than Marinette.

“Sorry, it’s just that we tried dating and it was… weird. It felt off, we were more comfortable as friends.”

“Does it get weird?”

“Oh, yeah, a lot. But, our entire friend group’s relationships are weird. Sabrina and Chloe tried dating, we’re all best friends. Chloe’s dating Kagami and Kagami and Adrien used to date. I still hang out with Luka and we dated. Alya and Nino are dating and Nino used to have a crush on me. I went on a date with Nathaniel, Marc and Nathaniel are dating. But, we’re all over it. We were literally in the same class for forever that we just write it off as inevitable.”

“Huh. That still must be weird.”

“Very,” Adrien replied.

“Well, on that happy note, I’ll open the portal.” She transformed and did it.

Everyone bid their farewells.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is weird. It’s been months since I’ve seen Plagg.”

“I know. I was there. It’s weird to be guardian again. Shit, I need to hide all of this. We’re going to my room, all you have to hide is a ring, we don’t need to be here.” They checked on Sabrina and Chloe. They were asleep since it was well past midnight, the movie was still going on in the background. Adrien turned off the movie and the lights, he also brought the snacks back to the kitchen. Marinette gave them blankets and pillows, she grabbed Sabrina who was at the end of the bed and put her next to Chloe, she made sure they were comfortable before they went to Marinette’s room.

Marinette hid the guardian box in the bottom of her closet next to the shoe rack. She put the grimoire on her shelf. The potions thing was put underneath her desk. She put the ingredients for the potions in the kitchen. They’d explain it in the morning. None of them had anything to do that morning.

“Mon Dieu, this is happening. On three?”

“On three.”

“Three,” Marinette said.

“Two,” Adrien said.

“One.” They both opened their boxes.

The kwamis appeared, looked around, smiled and hugged their chosen ones.

“Hi, Tikki.”

“Oh my god, how long has it been? You look the same! Has it been a year? Two?”

“It’s been eight months. I’m in university, now.”

“Oh, did you get accepted into Gotham University? Where are we? Oh, you’re not wearing pigtails anymore, it suits you! Is that makeup? Are you and Adrien finally dating? Where’s Xuppu? I noticed that they weren’t in the box!” Plagg was also questioning Adrien. Adrien decided that they both should have some privacy so he left the room.

Marinette caught her up to everything that was happening. In the end, she told her about the missing miraculous.

“Xuppu was stolen? Oh, no, this is horrible!”

“Yeah, we know where it is. We just need to track it and go to grab it.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?”

“It’s time to transform, it’s been so long. I’m semi-scared even though I’ve been dreaming about running on the rooftops of Gotham.”

“Then, I think it’s time to do it. You know the phrase.”

“Tikki spots on!”

Her costume was the same as she examined it, there was one difference, in her yoyo, there was a button called “Incognito Mode”, it changed her entire costume to black. She was about to change it back.

“Woah! That’s awesome!” Adrien said.

“Yeah! Finally, I’m not going to stick out.” Marinette changed it back.

“Well, claws out! Dang it, I don’t stick out like you. Wait, I’m eighteen! I can use my power as much as I want!”

“Ugh! I can’t wait until I’m eighteen.”

“Which is in a year.” Marinette stuck her tongue out at him.

“Should we go? Or are we gonna stay here making fun of me being younger and smarter than you all?”

“Let’s go,” he said. Marinette opened her window and they left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four had watched the patrol patterns of everyone for hours. They knew Batman would be coming towards them soon. Apparently, Batman had taken down the Shadow (“It’s just such a fucking stupid name. ‘The Shadow.’ Why don’t we just call him, ‘Black Shadowy Figure Who Wears A Cloak And A Mask.’ While we’re at it, why don’t we get his height, eye colour, ethnicity and add that to the mix, too.”) and he had gotten the miraculous from him since the Shadow wasn’t going to let it go, Batman figured out that it must be really important. They waited a couple of minutes.

“And… here they come.” Nightwing was with him.

“Who are you?” Batman said.

“Chat Noir.”

“Ladybug. We’re the former protectors of Paris.”

“Former protectors?” Nightwing asked.

“We retired after defeating Hawkmoth and Mayura, the two villains terrorizing Paris.”

“Ah, yes we heard that. The JL wished that you would reach out to them.” Ladybug and Chat Noir’s faces hardened.

“We did,” Chat Noir said.

“No, you didn’t,” Batman said.

“We did. We were written off as some people trying to prank them and to never contact anyone anymore. Funny that as soon as we defeated the villain, the JL decided that we were legit. We don’t have enough time to unpack that. You have something of ours. We want it back.”

“What do we have?”

“A weird headband thing? It came in a box with red detailing.”

“Why would we give it to you? How do we know it belongs to you? You could be stealing it.”

“Why don’t you have one of your fellow heroes bring it? It will prove itself.”

Batman glared at Ladybug. Ladybug didn’t back down. Instead, she glared at him.

“Fine, we’re only doing this because you’re heroes. You will still have to prove yourself. Robin, bring it. It’s with Oracle.” They stood in silence until a fashion atrocity came in with the box.

“Open it,” Chat Noir said. Nightwing was surprised at their aggressiveness. In truth, they would have been a lot nicer if they hadn’t brought up the Justice League incident.

They sighed and did it. Xuppu showed up. Xuppu saw Marinette and went to her side.

“Master! How are you? Where is the new Guardian? Where are we?”

“Long story short, I’m the Guardian again.”

“Woohoo! Who are the weirdos in those suits? I don’t sense any miraculous nearby.”

Robin closed the box and Xuppu disappeared.

“We’re keeping it. We need to inspect it and some of the Justice League will check whether it’s a threat or not.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir nodded at each other before Chat Noir got his baton to hit Robin in the chest. Robin dropped the miraculous. Batman went on defence. Nightwing did, too. Robin punched Chat Noir. Ladybug was about to pick up the miraculous when Nightwing stepped in front of the miraculous. 

Ladybug backed up and grabbed Nightwing with her yoyo string and dragged him out of the way before grabbing the miraculous. They moved away from the building and the vigilantes followed them. Ladybug and Chat looked at each for a minute before Chat nodded.

“Cataclysm!” He put it on the floor of the abandoned building. It collapsed in on itself, the dust gave them a chance to escape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they were on top of a different building far away, Marinette did her “Miraculous Ladybug” to repair the damage. They left and entered the apartment again, it was nearing two am. They both detransformed.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“Uh, hello, Chlo, S... Um, this is a dream? Yeah. Go back to your bed to wake up… we’re ghosts,” Adrien tried.

“Shut up, A,” Sabrina said.

“Sit down. You have some explaining to do.”

They sat down and explained everything. How they got the miraculous, why they never got akumatized, why they started dating out of nowhere, where did Ladybug and Chat Noir go, why they were entering through the window and all that stuff. They even met Tikki and Plagg. Tikki and Chloe remembered that they met each other before and she apologized profusely for that incident. Things went surprisingly well.

“Thank you,” Chloe whispered.

“What?” Marinette and Adrien said at the same time.

“You still let me be a hero even though I exposed my identity, got akumatized and I was really mean to you, Marinette. Thank you.”

“Hey, you were an awesome hero. Actually, since you both know about this, well. Give me a second,” Marinette said before running into her room and running out again, in her hands were two boxes.

“Chloe Bourgeois, I’m trusting you with the Bee Miraculous. Do you accept?”

“Really? Then, of course, I accept! Thank you!”

“Sabrina Raincomprix, I’m trusting you with the Fox Miraculous. Do you accept?”

“Wait, seriously? I get one, too? Awesome! Yeah!” They grabbed their miraculouses.

“My queen! Hello!”

“Hey, Pollen!” Chloe hugged her kwami.

“Oh! I can just feel the mischief coming off of you! My name’s Trixx.”

“I’m Sabrina. Nice to meet you!” After they all got adjusted, Sabrina pulled them in for a group hug.

“Transform! I want to see how ugly your outfits will be!” Marinette said once they pulled apart.

“Pollen, buzz on!”

Her hair was long and in a low ponytail. It also had strips of black in gold. Her suit was black with gold stripes, except for her forearms and her lower legs. Her forearms were all black, and she was wearing thigh-high black boots. Like real boots. Her mask was all black. The spinning top was on her side.

“I’m La Reine, now.”

“It doesn’t look that bad,” Marinette complimented.

Chloe detransformed and Sabrina went next after hearing the words.

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

Her hair was put into small French braids. Her fox ears were the same colour as her hair and black in the middle. Her costume was white on the front. On the back and side, however, it was orange at the top before fading into red before stopping at her thigh and fading into black the rest of the way down. Her flute was on the side of her thigh and there was little holster there. Her fingertips were black.

“Your costumes are alright. I’d say mine is the best, leather always is,” Adrien said. The girls rolled their eyes.

“Hmm. What should my name be? What about Lady Vixen? Yeah, that’s it.”

“How are you so prepared with your names? It took me an entire battle to come up with Ladybug. And it’s not even creative! For you guys, it’s like your entire lives have been leading up to this moment.”

They laughed.

“I’m not kidding! Where are these names coming from?”

“I dunno. For me, it just felt… right, like what else would be good? Nothing. Chat Noir just made sense.”

“I actually have been dreaming about this moment and a new name, La Reine was just the one that stayed in the running.”

“I mean you all know that I have extensive knowledge about the English language. Well, vixen has always just been a cool word, then, I thought about how vixen was used for comments about women’s appearances so I put lady in front of it since it sort of is more proper. So, it contradicts each other, I think it works. That's my thought process, I know it doesn’t make much sense but-“

“Nothing you say makes sense. Your and Dupain-Cheng’s minds are weird, what’s even weirder is explaining your thought processes.”

“Excuse me? One of my superpowers is literally just me having to use my mind to figure it out. This ‘weird mind’ has saved your asses, many, many times,” Marinette said with a pout.

“Hey, I never said that they weren’t useful, they're just weird,” Chloe justified. Adrien laughed, soon, they all joined in.

They went to bed at six am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette finished up her ninth iced latte before finishing the sentence.

“And… we’re done!” Marinette said.

“We’re only done the first two pa-“ Marinette put her hand over his mouth and shook her head.

“We’re. Done. We don’t need to worry about the outline or the introductory page or the first page.” He raised an eyebrow and she was too tired to be embarrassed. She took the hand off of his mouth.

“Do you wanna hang out? Like, just for fun and not this boring project thing,” Marinette asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m bored as fuck and I think we should leave this loud place to go somewhere quieter. Oo! I know the perfect place! I’ve been wanting to go there again forever, but everyone tells me not to go alone because ‘it’s in a bad part of town’ and ‘villain attacks are always happening there’ or some other bullshit. Like, I’ve already been there, nothing happened to me, see? But, no! Apparently, I can’t be trusted alone or I’m practically a hazard to society, I call it society being cowards.” Damian sighed and said yes to going with her because this girl was way too hazardous and would probably go wherever she wanted alone, it would be better if Damian went along with her.

“Great! I’m leaving my stuff in my locker here, do you wanna put your stuff there, too?” Damian reluctantly agreed, it would be easier to fight without a bag constricting his movement. Marinette put their stuff away after telling one of her fellow employees, she kept a small black purse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette and Damian walked through so many alleyways that it was a true miracle that they didn’t get ambushed by a villain. Like, an actual miracle. A petite biracial girl and a Wayne? Easy prey. Marinette probably couldn't fight. (She could.) And Damian was ninety percent sure that Marinette wasn’t actually conscious right now and it was the coffee that was taking over. Damian had seen it in Tim many times. With that, they were easy to kidnap except for the fact that Damian was Robin. (And Marinette was Ladybug, but he didn’t know. In reality, any villain who would try them would be making a grave mistake.)

He followed her through an abandoned office building in progress. Damian was almost concerned that Marinette had been playing the long game and was actually from the League of Assassin and was here to either kill Damian or kidnap him.

They got to the top and Damian had to admit, it was alright. There was no ceiling and it took half an hour to get there. On the bright side, they could see the sunset and the water was reflecting it. It took a second, but Damian recognized the area. It was where the heroes of Paris and the Bats had met last night. Damian grimaced at the thought.

“Hey! The view doesn’t warrant this. So, what’s up?”

“Tt. Nothing.”

Marinette sat on the edge and Damian immediately went on guard because Marinette was way too clumsy to not fall.

“Nope, you need to tell me. You’re way too tense. It’s in your shoulders.”

“What are you, a masseuse?”

“Nope, but my mentor back in Paris was the most cryptic person who gave generic advice and talked about the calmness of life or something. When you hear that stuff so often, you pick up a thing or two. Then, he also taught me some stuff after I got really stressed. Now, stop deflecting and speak.”

“No.”

“Pleaseeeeee.” Marinette gave him the best puppy dog eyes that she could muster. The ones that could convince anyone, they have never failed unless…

“Tt. Fine.”

Yup. Never failed.

“Okay, what were you thinking about earlier?” He sighed and decided he would be as cryptic as possible, she was used to it.

“Tt. Something happened last night and it could have gone better, I suppose.”

“You suppose? How bad was it on a scale of one to ten?”

“Seven.”

“Well, people's minds tend to exaggerate bad things so it was probably a four or five meaning it probably wasn’t too bad. You’re upset about it, though.”

“I’m not upset. I just didn’t like it. At all.”

“Well. Worry about it later, you need to relax. You’ve been on alert since we started walking, don’t think I didn’t notice that. Now come over here and watch the sunset with me,” Marinette said with determination. She looked so cute that Damian chuckled. Marinette perked up at his chuckle and smiled.

“How did you find this place?”

“I didn’t. I was walking along the lake when I thought it would be cooler to see it higher up. I looked around, saw this building and I just knew it would be perfect.”

“You do remember that this place is infested with crime, right?”

“This part of Gotham or just Gotham as a whole? Gotham is literally the crime capital, everywhere I go is a ‘bad part of town’,” Marinette said.

“Fair point. This place is worse, though. The chances of getting robbed here are twenty percent higher than anywhere else in Gotham.”

“Yeah, but what’s the chances of Scarecrow walking here and threatening me with a gun?”

“Less.”

“See? Sometimes, you just need to make a little sacrifice to have some fun. Plus, I have you as my personal bodyguard.”

“Is that why I’m here?”

“You caught me! I invited a Wayne here because I think he could protect me against robbers. I think I’d have better luck with a Bat. At least, they won’t be attracting anyone. Probably the opposite for them, they’d scare people away.”

“I would be a great bodyguard," he said.

“Mhm. Sure, you are.”

“I’m probably much better than you are.”

“I’m great as a bodyguard!” She tried to defend herself.

“Have you ever had training? Any?”

“I have!”

“I doubt it. You’re very… clumsy.”

“You never know. I could be a vigilante in the night.”

“I would never trust you as a vigilante.”

“Feeling’s mutual.”

They were content to sit in silence when Damian’s phone starting ringing. Marinette looked over and it said “Incoming FaceTime from Jon”. Damian answered it. 

“Hello, Jon.”

“I’m coming to Gotham!” Marinette started laughing at how different their greetings were. Damian glared at her.

“Wait, who’s that? That doesn’t sound like anyone I know. Are you in class? No, you turn your phone off in class. Oh my god! Did you make a friend? I need to meet them!”

“Can you shu-“ Marinette moved behind Damian and interrupted him.

“Hey! Nice to meet you, I’m Marinette.”

“I’m Johnathan. You can call me Jon. I’m Damian’s best friend. Also, the only friend until now? Why has Damian not killed you, yet? Don’t get me wrong, I’m so excited, but how?” Jon spoke, talking a mile per minute.

“Maybe because it’s morally wrong to kill someone because you find them annoying?”

“I suppose.”

“Tt. What’s this about you coming to Gotham?”

“It’s some scouting university thing. Our class will be checking out Gotham University, Barnard College and Yeshiva University.”

“Wait! If you’re coming to Gotham University, we can meet. I would like to meet Damian’s only and best friend.”

“Yes! I’d love to.”

“No. I will do everything in my power to make sure that you two don’t meet. Goodbye, Kent.”

“Bye, Mari!”

“Bye!” Marinette said before Damian could cut the call. He scowled.

“I will be meeting him. Even, if it’s the last thing I do,” Marinette said.

“I assure you, it will be.”

“Then, I will die happy.”

Do you ever shut up?”

“Buy my silence, rich boy. 50 000 dollars per month. Pure silence.”

“I will take you up on that offer, you know.”

“If you end up paying for my university tuition, I won’t be mad. At all.”

They talked for another hour in which Damian couldn’t buy her silence because he didn't just have 50 000 dollars on him.

“What about food?” He asked, desperate. Marinette debated it in her head.

“Yeah. Sure. Food, which I get to pick, and I will speak 50% less.”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“I want ice cream.” Damian stared at her, incredulously.

“What do you mean, you want ice cream? It’s the end of September. It’s almost six.”

“And I want ice cream.”

“I-,” he sighed, “Sure. We’ll get ice cream if it buys your silence.”

“Half of my silence,” she corrected.

“Half of your silence. Fine, well have fun getting a cold.”

As they got ready to leave, Marinette almost fell off. Well, not really. She leaned back a bit and faked falling which made Damian go on high alert again. Marinette saw that he was much more relaxed while they were talking. Marinette started laughing which even though, Damian tried to fight it, he smiled. Marinette’s happiness was contagious.

They walked back, Marinette was practically skipping. She was way too excited about getting ice cream. It was cute. No! No. She’s nothing more than an acquaintance.

“Why do you want ice cream?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted ice cream, you offered, I said yes. You should be happy about this.”

“Once you shut up, I will be.” Marinette laughed.

“Why do I feel like I’m being conned,” Damian said again.

“Because you are,” she sang.

“How?” Damian raised an eye, however, they both knew the answer. They knew that the other one knew the answer.

“I’ll let you figure that out.”

“How nice of you.”

“I know. I’m an absolute angel.”

“Of course, Angel.”

They talked more on the way to what Damian claims is the “only acceptable vegan ice cream in the whole of Gotham”. 

Marinette got cookies and cream. Marinette also threatened to not keep up her side of the deal if Damian didn’t get ice cream. He decided on a mint chocolate chip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean you have a cow?”

“We have a cow.”

“Why?”

“We rescued her from a slaughterhouse,” Damian said, completely serious. Marinette started laughing.

“Is that why you’re vegan?”

“Yes. How did you figure that out?”

“People don’t go to vegan ice cream places for fun. What’s her name?”

“Bat-cow.” Marinette laughed even harder.

“Of course it is. Can I ask why?”

“She has a bat-shaped marking.”

“So, you decided her name would be Bat-cow? How creative.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be talking fifty percent less?”

“I am. When I could be talking like normal, I eat my ice cream. There! Fifty percent less.”

“That doesn’t count,” he said.

“Oh, but it does.”

“This is a scam.”

“How dare you? I would never!” He looked amused.

“You sound like I’m accusing you of murder.” Marinette chuckled.

“How dare you accuse me of such demonic things?”

“Angels can still do bad things. I think.”

“I don’t know. Does it look like I’ve read the Bible?”

“Does it look like I’ve read the bible?”

“Nope. We’re just two sinners in Gotham sinning about, and we haven’t read the Bible either. Oh, we’re definitely going to hell.”

“I’ll see you there.”

“Not if I see you first.”

“I suppose that I actually won’t see you there, Angel. Won’t you be in heaven?”

“Oh, well, yeah. Merde! How am I supposed to annoy you in the afterlife, now?”

“Are you really that attached to me?”

“You’ve annoyed me for the last month. I think it’s only fair that I get to do the same to you.”

“For the rest of eternity?” Marinette nodded and had a grin painted on her face.

They finished their ice creams on the way back to the cafe to grab their stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, bye,” Marinette said before walking out. Damian was frozen for a minute before catching up with her.

“What do you mean by ‘bye’?”

“I’m going back to my apartment?”

“And?”

“Oh! Bye is a shorter way of saying goodbye which is used to express good wishes when two or more people are parting.”

“Tt. I know what goodbye means, Angel. I’m just wondering why you think I would let you walk home alone. I’m practically your babysitter now. I am a year older than you.”

“Ugh. I’m sorry that I’m smart and had to move up a grade which makes me the youngest and smartest.”

“Compared to me, your intelligence is no higher than a rodent.”

“A mere mortal has higher intelligence than me? What’s next? All the Waynes are also geniuses?”

“Tt. Please. Alfred and Cassandra are the only ones with any brain cells left. I’m sure Thomas’ have all vanished from being near my family. Drake’s have also disappeared to make way for caffeine.”

“What about Mr. Wayne?”

“He adopted my siblings. Enough said.” Marinette laughed.

“So, how are you smarter than me?”

“I can speak more than two languages,” he said with a smirk.

“What, three?”

“Eleven.” Marinette’s jaw dropped.

“Eleven? What. The. Fuck.” He chuckled.

“What about you?” She was still in shock.

“Five,” she said, after an eternity of silence. At this, he looked impressed.

“Which ones?”

“French, Mandarin, English, Spanish and German.”

“I understand the first three, but why Spanish and German?”

“My- what do you call it?” She thought for a second, “High school! Yes! My high school offered it and I wanted to learn more languages. I can barely speak German. If I visited, I’d be alright, but just barely. What about your ten languages?” She said, pouting.

“Arabic, English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Indonesian and Chinese. I’m currently studying Latin so it will be twelve, soon.”

“So, you don’t know German?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I am going to perfect it, just to spite you.”

“Do you really think I won’t learn German to spite you?”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t find another language that you don’t know.”

“Bold of you to assume that I won’t learn every single language just so I know what you’re saying.”

“Bold of you to assume that I won’t come up with my own language,” she said.

“Bold of you to assume I won’t learn it.”

“Bold of you to assume that the language doesn’t constantly change.”

“You would really do that? Just for me?”

“To annoy you? Yes. I’m learning two languages that you don’t know.”

“I’m not joking. I will learn every language ever.” Marinette stepped closer to Damian until they were face to face. Well, Marinette was a head shorter than him so it was more like face to chin.

“I’m not joking either, a language that never stays the same. Sounds fun.”

“I’ll make my own language,” Damian said.

“No! You can’t! It was my idea,” she said with an adorable pout. 

“I’ll just trademark it.”

“Well, rich boy, whilst you’re spending all this money, would you like to reconsider my offer of 75 000 dollars per month?”

“It was 50 000, last time.”

“Yeah, well, the longer it takes for you to accept, the more expensive it gets.”

“That’s a horrible deal.”

“I need to catch up on my debt somehow.”

“I would have thought you would have some money considering you make outfits for some big names.”

“Oh. Are you stalking me now?” Marinette said, grinning.

“Tt. No, Drake, Grayson, Todd and Thomas love Jagged Stone. They’ve mentioned his outfits and MDC five hundred and ninety times since the concert when they saw the MDC Originals. Gordon, Brown and Cass have also mentioned the outfits an additional fifty times, each. Even Father has mentioned wanting to commission you.” Marinette’s eyes sparkled and she frowned. She, also, stopped walking.

“I hate you.”

“What’s the new occasion?” He continued to walk, she caught up with him.

“I’m making outfits for every single member of your family. I was supposed to go home, but, I don’t have to be home for another-" she looked at her watch, "-three hours. Come on! We’re going to GU.”

“Why am I coming with you?”

“You said it yourself. You’re my babysitter.” She grabbed Damian by the arm and they went to Gotham University.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why are we in the art club?” Damian asked. There were around ten other people in the room, all doing some form of art. Marinette signed in and dragged him to a little corner.

“Because I don’t wanna go home yet. It’s fun hanging out with you.”

“My death threats are fun?”

“Very. They’re really creative. Do you do any art?”

“I paint?”

“Cool. Fuck. Any chance, you have anyone in your family's measurements?”

“Tt. Why would I?”

“Can you get them? Please!” Marinette’s eyes were full of hope. Damian sighed and pulled out his phone.

“Who are you texting?” Marinette asked.

“Alfred.”

“Oo! Can you get his measurements, too? And yours.”

“Tt. Sure, Angel.”

Alfred sent them the measurements.

Marinette wrote them down and started designing. Inspiration hit Marinette like a truck and she got to designing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m tired,” Marinette said, leaving the university campus.

“Maybe, you should have gone home three hours ago when you had the chance,” Damian replied. He was carrying her laptop bag along with his. All Marinette had was her black purse.

“But, designing people’s outfits was more fun.”

“Now, you’re tired, so was it really a good idea?” She gave him a tired smile.

“Yup!”

‘You are impossible.”

“Thank you. Ugh! My head hurts.”

“You need to take a nap.”

“Eh. I’m good.”

“Please, just sleep, Angel.”

“I’m doing fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette dropped onto her bed and stayed there. Tikki turned off her light.

“Thanks, Tikki.”

“No problem, Marinette! That boy was right. You should take a nap before you go and remeet the vigilantes of this city!”

“Tikki isss right, Massster,” Sass said. All the kwamis were hanging out in Marinette’s room. Apparently, with the consent of the Guardian, the kwamis could leave the Miracle box without a holder.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Make sure Chloe wakes me up in an hour. You guys can leave the room, I doubt there’s anyone over. We have Sabrina, introvert extraordinaire, Adrien, socially awkward, Chloe, socially weird. Chloe is the only one who would bring someone over and that’s only if she has to.” The kwamis looked at each other and shrugged. Marinette looked at the view for a while. Gotham was beautiful in a tragic way. Gotham was really inspiring for fashion. All you had to do was look at the villain’s outfits, that’s what you don’t do.

She wondered what Damian thought about the outfits. Chloe and Adrien agreed, a fashion monstrosity. Joker's hair? Disgusting. Sabrina couldn't care less, "They literally kill people! Who cares about how they look?"

"It's about the principle, S! The principle!" Marinette would argue. Damian might think like Sabrina. 

Marinette thought about that and slowly fell asleep within minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dupain-Cheng! Wake up!” Marinette jolted awake. Chloe was stood in the doorway, already transformed.

“I’m up! I’m up!” Marinette said.

“We have to go.”

“Yeah, yeah. Tikki?”

“Ready, Marinette?”

“Yup. Tikki spots on!”

They walked to the living room where Chat Noir and Lady Vixen was already standing there.

“Okay, everyone knows the plan. Chat Noir, La Reine, offence. Lady Vixen, defence. I do the talking. Comms in. Just in-case we get separated. If things go array, we use the escape plan which is to go in whatever direction you want, don’t follow anyone else. When you think you’ve lost the Bats, go to the rendezvous point which is the roof of 'Bubbles & Boba'. The escape plan should only happen if Chat or I say ‘Rendevous’, got it? Good.”

“Let’s go,” Chat Noir said. They all left the apartment through the window. Being on the ninth and highest floor was seriously convenient for heroes/vigilantes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are my fuel. About the smut thing: I might go with implied smut though I am thinking about the dark side. More than I probably should. See you next time! (I promise it won't be another ten days!)
> 
> PS - To all the people asking why they're confronting the heroes, again: That will be explained in the next chapter. Also, I didn't make it clear, but Marinette and Adrien missed their kwamis and missed being heroes. They wanted to retire earlier, but now, they know that they like being heroes, again. But, they are totally in denial - hence, chapter title. I mean if Marinette wants to retire, why would she get the Guardian title, again? Subtext, people, subtext.


	6. Bats VS Miraculous Team - A Truce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new enemy is here.

“Here for round two?” Robin said, glaring at them. Ladybug shrugged. The other people of the Miraculous Team glared at Robin.

“We’re here to explain our previous actions. Can we get Batman to show up?”

Nightwing nodded and spoke, presumably into his comms.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are back. They want to explain themselves. There are two more heroes with them.” He paused, “Okay.”

Batman showed up within a minute of waiting.

“Introduce yourselves,” he said.

“That’s La Reine and Lady Vixen. New heroes,” Ladybug said. 

“You need back-up to face us?” Robin said with a smirk.

“Considering last time, we beat you with only two people, that would be unnecessary,” Chat said. Robin glared at him.

“Speaking of that,-” Ladybug interjected, glaring at Chat who just smirked, “-we’re here to apologize. We needed the miraculous back, if it gets in the wrong hands, this could be a life or death situation. You telling us that you’re keeping it wasn’t the best of things to say. Regardless of saying, we both made mistakes. We apologize for our end of it.”

“We accept your apology, but we didn’t do anything wrong on our end?” Batman said. Reine stepped forward.

“Didn’t do anything wrong? How about stealing something that wasn’t yours and when given the chance to make it right, you were trying to make it worse,” Reine snapped. Ladybug sighed and nodded towards Chat. They had a plan for if Reine decided to go out of the plan. Chat and Ladybug switched positions and Chat whispered something to make Reine return to her previous post.

“Nothing bad would have happened if it was in our possession,” Batman said after moments of silence.

“How do we know that?” Reine said.

“I- I suppose you have to trust us. It was a better idea than giving it to teenagers.”

“Excuse me?” Lady Vixen said, the other three were surprised, but let her go on, “All of your team has been operating since they were kids! Do you not trust your own team, then?”

“That’s different. I trained them. They can be trus-“

“And Ladybug and Chat Noir saved Paris. Has each member of your team saved a city of two million? Actually, they saved the whole world, we don’t know what Hawkmoth’s wish was. He could have wanted a mass genocide. They should be trusted.”

“I- well- yes, I should have checked before I made the decision. I am sorry.”

The four miraculous holders looked at each other, surprised that it was this easy before Ladybug spoke.

“We accept! There’s one more thing. Uh- would it, um, be okay if we… stayed around? We won’t get in your way! We just wanted to make sure there would be no hard feelings if you ever see any of us on the rooftops.”

“What if we refuse?” Nightwing said.

“Then, it won’t be fun to see you around.”

Nightwing looked at Batman and Robin continuously glared at them. Batman thought about it.

“What do you want to do in Gotham?”

“Just… stay around. Help out if you don’t hate us. It won’t be fun if I just gave Reine and Vixen their miraculous and then, took it away the next day.”

“What m’lady doesn’t wanna say is that she misses being a hero and swinging around the city,” Chat said, grinning. Ladybug glared at him.

“I suppose I do miss it. A considerable amount.” Batman looked at the four heroes and scanned them.

“Fine. There are some rul-” Ladybug and her team were already leaving when he said ‘fine’.

“Great!” Ladybug said.

“We knew you’d come around!” Chat added.

“We’d love to stay and chat-“ Vixen said.

“But we’ve done what we needed to do! Goodbye!” Reine finished before they all left the top of the building. The four didn’t want to stay near Batman any longer than they had to. The man was scary.

They had done their thing, now they had one issue off their back. The next was in their civilian lives. They had this big energy sucker called university and it was much harder than lycée. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month had passed by and Halloween is coming up. The miraculous team and Batman’s team were on more… civil grounds. Robin still hated them. Batman was indifferent. The rest of them were pretty cool at least according to Chat and Vixen.

Reine just hated them and Ladybug thought they were okay, she was here to find out why Gotham was bothering her, not to make friends.

However, that was not what Marinette was stressing over. She was stressing over the fact that Lila was going to come to Gotham. 

The whole reason that the four of them had left Paris was that, to them, Paris was a nightmare and they wanted to leave the negativity behind. You can’t leave something behind if it keeps following you!

“Dupain-Cheng! I can hear your anxiety from my room! Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Tone it down.”

“Sorry, C. It’s just- you know?”

“I’m sorry, did you skip a couple of words there or am I deaf?”

“It’s just- ughhhh!” Marinette fell onto the couch. Chloe’s face softened and she sat down next to her.

“I know, I know. She’s only going to be here for a month. Just avoid her.”

“I can’t! I haven’t seen Alya in two months and you know wherever Alya goes-“

“-the she-devil follows. Then, just say that you want some one-on-one time.”

“Lila will just sprout some shit about not wanting to be alone and I’ll look like the bad guy.”

“Yeah. Sucks for you!” Chloe said, getting up.

“Hey! That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, you think it’s the worst. I agree. There’s nothing more. Plus, it’s only a month, you’ll be fine. Now, don’t you have commissions to design and assign?” And Chloe left.

What Chloe meant by that was that Marinette was no longer a one-woman show. She designed most of the stuff and then, sent the design out for others to complete. Usually, she included a prototype of what the design should like before approving or denying the final result. Sometimes, others designed things and gave them to the head designer of the branch who sent it to MDC who decided whether it should be produced or not. Marinette just needed a few more designs for her Christmas release to be sent out today and assign them to certain branches just to make sure that they would be out on Christmas.

Around five hours later, Marinette had finished the Christmas designs and sent them out. Marinette could feel her shoulders being lighter. Having a company was easier than being a one-woman show like she had been for the previous three years. 

For the next hour, Marinette worked on finishing the detailing on her costume and Chloe’s costumes. She had finished Adrien and Sabrina’s a few days ago. Adrien was going as a vampire. Sabrina was going as a detective. Apparently, Chloe wanted to do a duo costume and Marinette didn’t have any ideas that year so she agreed. Apparently, they were going as an angel and a demon. Chloe was going as the demon while Marinette would be an angel. Tikki was helping with certain details. Kwami of creation and what-not. Really helpful for ideas. She had just finished the costumes for tomorrow and decided to bother Chloe.

“Hey, C?” Marinette yelled out.

“Mhm?”

“Do you wanna grab pizza and fries later?”

“… Yeah, whatever. I am going a bit stir-crazy working on whatever that’s supposed to be.”

“You mean homework?”

“More like ‘I-don’t-remember-going-over-this-in-class-work’ but I guess that works too. Can we get like a smoothie or something on the way home?”

“Yeah. When will Sab and Adri be home?”

“Around nine? So, four hours.”

“Okay. Once we get back, should we just put off our school work and binge-watch a show?”

“Yes! Which one?” Chloe said while grabbing the keys from her room.

“The Good Place?”

“Yes! I haven’t watched season four yet, I think.” They continued talking as they left the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette and Sabrina were in the kitchen, talking and decorating the sugar cookies because they still had some time before they needed to get ready.

“Right now, my favourite class is probably Psychology. I didn’t really care when I first took it, but now it's really interesting. What about you?”

“I’d say… Colour Theory. The other classes are so boring! Economics and Marketing isn’t very interesting. I already know a lot about Fashion Design. Design is alright but boring. Anyway, what do you even do in Psychology?”

“It’s a study of the brain, obviously. At the moment we’re studying behavioural neuroscience. More in detail, behaviour genetics and-“

“DUPAIN-CHENG!” Marinette rolled her eyes and walked into Chloe’s room.

“Yeah?”

“Can you do my hair like yours?” Marinette did Chloe’s hair, a crown braid with some hair down, while Chloe was doing her makeup. Black eyeshadow with a red tail as the eyeliner and red lipstick. Above her eyebrow was a red horn.

Chloe was already wearing her black dress with the wings glued on. All she needed to do was put on her black gloves and she’d be done.

Chloe, then, shooed her out and Marinette decided to continue getting ready. Marinette already had her hair done. She went into her room and put on her angel costume with the wings attached to it. All, she had left was her makeup. Chloe had sent her very specific makeup look to do. 

White eyeshadow, instead of a normal winged eyeliner, it was gold angel wings. On top of her eyebrow was a halo. Then, she put on blush and pink lip gloss before she was done. 

“Wow, Marinette! You look very pretty!”

“Thank you, Tikki!” Marinette left the room.

She saw Sabrina who was dressed as a female version of a film noir detective.

Adrien looked like a young vampire from the eighteenth century… which was exactly what Marinette was going for when she designed his costume. Same thing for Sabrina.

“Should we go?” Marinette asked. Chloe came out.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Adrien said. It was around eight and there were a bunch of little kids running around and their parents were running after them. Marinette got flashbacks to when she took Manon out for Halloween.

They arrived at Delmar’s house. Delmar was Sabrina’s study partner who was also rich as fuck and a pretty well-liked guy.

They entered the mansion and decided to stick together in the wave of thousands of people. That plan was thrown out the window when Sabrina decided to go find Delmar and Adrien joined her.

Chloe stayed with Marinette by the alcohol. Chloe drank at least 5 cups of alcohol. Marinette only drank two. She was a little tipsy, but she was okay enough to make sure none of her roommates would die or get seriously injured. Chloe went off because she saw one of her classmates that she tolerated. Marinette was soon, standing alone when someone whispered in her ear.

“Have your friends finally decided that you’re annoying and left you?”

Marinette turned around and about to punch them when they grabbed her hand. She looked up and saw it was Damian, who was not wearing a costume. He looked her up and down and smirked.

“An angel? Seriously? You are really trying to prove that you’re not a scammer.”

“Still salty about not figuring out the ice cream trick?”

“We both know that I knew.”

“Uh-huh, sure you did. Wait, you actually came?”

“Yes. I am here, aren’t I?”

“I’m just surprised. I didn’t think a party was your scene.”

“It isn’t.”

“Yet, here you are,” Marinette said, gesturing around.

“Well apparently, you’re obsessed with me and like to have me around.”

“I think that you like me and just don’t want to say it.” He scoffed.

“I don’t like anyone.”

“Jon and I disagree.”

“You haven’t spoken with Jon for a month.”

“We text!”

“How?” Damian asked.

“Jason.”

“When do you speak with Todd?”

“A few weeks around, Jason took me to a gun range, we bonded.”

“Why?”

“Dick found out that my parents own a bakery and wanted to learn a few recipes. Duke and Jason joined him. Halfway through, Jason took me to a gun range.”

“Did you like it?”

“Nope. It was weird. I hated it. So, are you going to admit that you like me?”

“Tt. I tolerate you,” Damian said. Marinette beamed at this. The most she used to get from him was ‘I hate you.’ It took two months, but she finally broke him.

“You do know that’s the equivalent of ‘I like you’ from you.”

He scoffed.

“It’s a bit stuffy in here. Want to go on a walk?” Marinette asked, already moving towards the exit.

“Tt. Sure.”

It took five minutes to get out of the mansion since it was packed. Marinette saw Adrien and Sabrina talking to Delmar on her way out. 

When they got out, they started walking around the park that was nearby. They walked for around an hour.

“What do you even talk about with Jon?”

“You, mostly. Other times we talk about Paris or Metropolis. Also, you have a type.”

“What?” Damian asked, incredulously. 

“A type. Black hair, blue eyes. You’re like your father.”

“I do not have a type. That’s ridiculous,” Damian scoffed.

“Mhm. Jon and I have black hair. And we have blue eyes. Not to mention, your family is fifty-percent dark hair and blue-eyed.” Damian scoffed again before realization set in. Marinette grinned when she saw it. They continued walking until they saw a garden. Marinette immediately veered off path and Damian followed her.

“Oh, it’s so pretty here!”

“I suppose.”

“Lighten up. We’re alone, if you have the slightest amount of fun, I promise no one will see.” Damian scoffed and sat down on the bench, beside her.

Damian thought that Marinette never looked more like an angel than right now. He must have been caught staring because she gave him a small smile. Slowly, they started moving closer. Damian was very close to her when Marinette’s phone went off. Marinette jumped away, her blush was very apparent.

Marinette looked at her phone and it was a text from Chloe.

~Texts~

Queenie - maRIIIIIIOIIIIII!!!!1

Queenie - I havet a kiler headacje

That Bitch - how many drinks have you had?

Queenie - 41

That Bitch - WHAT?!

Queenie - lols mb

Queenie - foruteen 

That Bitch - stay wherever tf you are, im coming

~End~

“We need to get back,” Marinette said.

“Why?”

“One of my friends is drunk and probably on the verge of passing out.” Marinette started walking back and texted Sabrina.

~Texts~

That Bitch - Hey, are you and Adrien okay?

S - Yeah? Why?

That Bitch - Chloe’s drunk and im taking her home

S - oh 

S - ok, Adrien and I’ll be back at around eleven or something

That Bitch - u sure?

S - yup! Delmar’s okay with driving us home

That Bitch - ok, be safe! Don’t do drugs! Don’t drink too much!

~End~

“She’s in the entrance hall,” she said when they were in front of Delmar’s mansion. 

Marinette pushed around some people, apologizing while trying to find Chloe. Damian was following her. After a while, she found Chloe who was literally about to fall over in the back. Chloe started to lean on Marinette and was half-asleep.

“How did you guys get here?” Damian asked.

“I made them walk so I could get some inspiration for designs. I’m regretting that decision. I just hoped that none of them would get this drunk.” Marinette started to call an Uber.

“I can drive you two home.”

“You drove here?”

“Obviously. If she throws up in my car, you’ll be paying for it.” He started walking out the door. Marinette following him.

“You’re from a family of billionaires. I’m sure that it won’t be that big of a travesty.”

“The car has… sentimental value.”

“You have emotions?” Marinette teased.

“I have one and it’s being annoyed.”

“Fitting,” Marinette said. They got to the car which was a black BMW X6. (A/N - I legit just got one of my guy friends and asked him for a good car. He gave me this. Thanks, Inder.)

Chloe got in the back seat and decided to take a nap. Marinette got into the front seat beside Damian, who started driving.

“Are you not going to ask for my address?”

“I remember it.”

“How?”

“I came over, once.”

“Yeah, like a month and a half ago!” Marinette smiled.

“Do you ever shut up?”

“Remember the new deal?” He sighed and nodded. Marinette’s deal got so high that she had to change it because no one on Earth had that much money. She settled for food of her choice for fifty percent less talking and $500 000 to never speak in front of Damian again.

“What food do you want?” He looked at her face before changing the phrasing, “What food, that is acceptable for winter, would you like?”

“Hey! Ice cream is great for winter!”

“No, it is not, Angel,” Damian said. Marinette, playfully, rolled her eyes.

“I’ll go with… Subway. Chloe and I have the same order, so she’ll be pleasantly surprised when she wakes up.”

“How many drinks has she had?”

“Fourteen,” Marinette said, frowning.

“Do you have any Advil?”

“Nope. We didn’t expect any of us to get drunk. Any chance, we can get another detour?”

“Tt. Sure, Angel. Is she supposed to be a demon?” Damian said, referring to Chloe.

“Yup! She wanted to make a duo costume and Sab said no. So, here we are. This was not my idea, you know.”

“Well, you look even better than other angels,” Damian said. Marinette blushed. Damian did, too, when he realized he said that out loud.

They arrived at Subway’s drive-thru and made their order. Marinette made Damian order something, again. She always made Damian get something. They got their orders and Marinette started eating hers.

“Do you have to eat in my car?” Damian asked.

“Well, if you drive, safely. Nothing will happen.”

“You are the clumsiest person, I know. I don’t trust you with eating in my car.”

“Why? Do you want to switch? I can drive.”

“I do not trust you with eating in my car, why do you think I will let you drive it?” Marinette just giggled.

“I’d argue, but, that’s fair. There’s a Walgreens near my apartment, we’ll grab the Advil there.” (A/N - wtf is a Walgreens? We’re Shoppers Drug Mart people over here.)

“Yeah. Are you finally going to be quiet or are you still a scammer, Angel?” Marinette stuck out her tongue.

“I think I should also get a way to make you shut up.” Damian thought for a moment.

“How about when you shut up, I’ll be quiet?”

“But, what if I want to talk while you shut up?”

“Too bad.” Marinette pouted for a minute before pulling out her phone and checking her email.

She got an update on her designs being sent out. All the branches received their designs and were working on them. All Marinette had to do was make the designs by herself and send certain angles to them to let them know how the end result should look. She already had some of the end results so she started sending them. She didn’t realize when Damian almost ran a red because he was looking at her. She didn’t realize when Chloe started lightly snoring. She, definitely, didn’t realize when they arrived at Walgreens.

“We’re here.” Marinette looked up and scrunched up her nose, she didn’t have a chance to send in some of the final product designs.

“Already?” Marinette looked at Chloe who was sleeping and decided to let her be.

“Who were you texting?” Damian said, exiting the car. Marinette got out after him. 

“Texting?”

“Yes? You were typing?”

“Oh! I wasn't texting anyone. Just sending some emails to my team.”

“Team?”

“MDC is no longer a one-woman-show. I have a team and we’re working on a few designs which will be released on Christmas.”

“Congratulations. How big is the company?” Damian was actually interested in hearing the answer as they walked in.

“So far, it’s North America, France and England. A majority of my customers are from there so it only made sense to open companies there. I’m just hoping that we don’t screw up opening the online store.”

“Have you announced the designs, yet?”

“Not yet, it’s way too early! We’ll probably announce it in early December.”

“How?”

“You know, if you weren’t… you, I’d probably think you were competition or someone trying to get information to leak. We’ll probably announce it on the official Instagram, maybe get a celebrity endorsement.” They walked around.

“You should probably contract Drake or Grayson. They’d love to endorse you.”

“As Marinette or MDC?”

“Honestly, both. But, I was referring to MDC in this instance.”

“Yeah, but I want to give him an MDC Original. I’ll probably go with Audrey Bourgeois. Give me a second.” Marinette pulled out her phone in the middle of the pharmacy aisle and messaged Audrey who had become one of her mentors for the fashion world. She put her phone away and grabbed some Advil.

“You just have her phone number?”

“You do know that her daughter is sleeping in the back of your car, right now?”

“Yes, but Audrey Bourgeois is the biggest name in the fashion industry and you’re just texting her?”

“If you said that about a year ago, I would have started freaking out and trying to delete the text, but somehow ended up calling her. Audrey’s sort of my unofficial mentor, whenever I need advice about fashion, I go to her.”

“That is impressive.” 

“Oh! I’m getting chocolate.”

“I take back what I said,” Damian said, “You’re like a kid in a candy shop.”

“I am a kid in a candy shop. Legally, a child and if a shop has candy in it, it’s a candy shop.” Damian rolled his eyes and they walked over to the self-checkout. Once, Marinette paid for her stuff, Advil, chocolate, water, they needed some jam so she grabbed that, and bread, too. She bought the reusable bag and they walked back over to the car. They were in and out in five minutes. Chloe was still taking a nap. She started to stir awake when Damian started driving.

“Mari?” Marinette turned. 

“Hey, Chlo.” Marinette passed her half of her Subway sandwich and some water which Chloe downed.

“Thanks. Where are we?” she said. She slurred her words a bit.

“In my car and do you just want to make my car dirty?” Damian said, directing the last bit towards Marinette. She stuck her tongue out, again.

“We’re in a stranger’s car?”

“Chloe, do you even listen to me when I talk about him?” Damian shot a look at Marinette who smiled back, innocently.

“Non, ce serait ridicule. Absolument ridicule. Où nous emmène-t-il?” She asked.  
(No, that would be ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Where is he taking us?)

“Il peut comprendre le français,” Marinette replied.  
(He can understand French.)

“Oui Je peut,” Damian said with a smirk that only Marinette could see.  
(Yes, I can.)

“Is there a language you can’t understand?” Chloe said, still eating her sandwich.

“German,” Marinette said.

“I doubt you’ve perfected German, Angel.”

“You sure? Weil ich habe.”  
(Because I have.)

“¿Eres bueno en español?” Damian asked.  
(Are you good at Spanish?)

“Obviamente.”  
(Obviously.)

“Can you two stop flirting and tell me who you are and where we’re going? And, why does my head hurt like a bitch?”

“That’s Damian Wayne. We’re going home. And you have a hangover.”

“Oh! I remember drinking with you and some other stuff.” Marinette pulled out her phone which was vibrating.

“Do you also remember facetiming Kagami?”

“Huh? Oh, yes! I did! How did you know?”

“She’s texting me asking if you’re alright.” Marinette texted back that she was fine.

“Ugh! My head still hurts!”

“Yeah, no shit. It’s been half an hour since you drank. I doubt that it will get better quickly. We got some Advil though.”

“We don’t have Advil.”

“I got some Advil a minute before you woke up.”

“Cool. I’m going back to sleep.”

“No, you aren’t. We have arrived at your apartment, you’re going inside and leaving me the hell alone,” Damian said. He stopped right in front of the door. Chloe grumbled while she was getting out and started walking towards the entrance. 

“Thanks for helping out with Chloe. And in general. Goodnight,” she said, softly, before kissing his cheek and getting out with her bag. Damian stared at her retreating form. He fought his blush and drove home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette woke up with Chloe right next to her in her bed. They both had scrubbed off their makeup and changed into pyjamas. Chloe took an Advil and Marinette remembered last night. When she almost kissed Damian in the gardens and when she kissed his cheek before running off. Marinette checked the other rooms to make sure they had gotten home fine. They were both in their rooms. Luckily, Halloween was on Friday this year meaning today was Saturday. 

Marinette decided to get started on breakfast. She decided to make pancakes for everyone. Two each, that evened out nicely. She fed the kwamis, too. It was fun living with two rich kids who could buy anything they wanted. Adrien had an afternoon photo shoot, today so Marinette went to wake him up. Sabrina woke up after that. Chloe slept in and it took Adrien and Sabrina to wake her up.

“Feeling better?” Marinette asked.

“A bit. I have never been gladder that today is Saturday. Imagine going to university like this.”

“Well, the rest of us would have known not to get drunk.”

“I wasn’t drunk!”

“Mari said you had fourteen cups of alcohol.”

“You do know that we’re underage, right?” Sabrina said.

“I hate the states!” Chloe said.

“Why did you get drunk anyway? You don’t get drunk for no reason.”

“Kagami and I had an argument.” 

“About?”

“The future.”

“What about the future?”

“Where we’ll be, if we should get married, that kinda stuff.”

“Yeah, you’re going to go into your room and FaceTime Kagami and figure this shit out.” Marinette pushed Chloe into her room once she was done with her pancakes. Adrien left for his photoshoot. Marinette did her homework. Sabrina went for a walk… as Lady Vixen… and the walk was on rooftops.

Hours later, Chloe emerged from her room and said that everything was better.

“We talked about it and came to a consensus. We’ll study and then, get married, and the focus on our careers before adopting.”

“That’s… good?”

“It’s great!” Chloe said, with a smile, “Where’s Sab and Adrikins?”

“Adrien’s at his photoshoot, still. And Sabrina is parading around as Lady Vixen.”

“I might go join her.”

“Kay. Have fun!”

Marinette surrendered to her room and stayed there until she got a text.

~Texts~

Als - WE HAVE LANDED!

Mari - WOOOOO! 

Mari - What are u guys doing

Als - today? Probably settling into the hotel and getting the schedule and a safety presentation ughhh

Mari - like you should. Gotham is a crime-ridden place I should know I’ve been mugged twice

Als - but you also got saved by Robin AND Nightwing!!!!!

Als - I’d love to interview themmmm

Mari - how long r u staying here again?

Als - a month and I don’t even get to see you until tomorrow!!!

Als - shit! Gotta go ttyl

Mari - baiiiiiiiiii

~End~

Marinette sighed, tomorrow was going to be a shit-show with Lila there.

“Oh, come on, Marinette! It won’t be that bad!” Tikki said.

“Maybe,” Marinette replied, “Fuck! I’m going to be late!” Tikki giggled.

Marinette ran around her room grabbing everything and walked to Gotham Cafe for her job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Marinette walked towards the entrance of Wayne Enterprises. Alya reassured her that as long as Marinette didn’t cause trouble or make the class look bad, not Alya’s words, the teacher would be fine with it.

Marinette looked around for a bit until her eyes landed on a group, more specifically, a certain reporter.

“Als!”

“Mari!” They embraced and started rambling in French.

“Oh my god! It’s been forever!”

“I know! How’s Paris? How was the flight? What did you do yesterday?”

“Paris is alright. The flight was alright and we did nothing. It was so unproductive!”

“Did you guys not have the safety seminar?”

“We did. But, it was boring! I’d much rather hang out with my bestie! Also, I totally forgot to tell you, but that angel costume that you wore. It was so beautiful! Even Chloe looked somewhat acceptable.”

“I’m staying with my judgement. You and Chloe would be great friends!”

“Ugh! I’d rather that Scarecrow, himself, walks into the lobby and threatens me with a gun than be friends with her!” Marinette rolled her eyes and they kept talking until a sickly, sweet voice interrupted them.

“Marinette! I’m so glad that you weren’t lying, after all!” Marinette turned to the Italian girl.

“Lying?”

“Well, yes. I thought that you really weren’t in Gotham and that you probably were in Paris. After all, Gotham University doesn’t just accept anybody! I’m so glad that it turns out you were telling the truth about being in Gotham. I don’t really believe the Gotham University part, though. It must be my PTSD of people lying to me. I’m so sorry! I’m probably a horrible person!” Marinette just stood, dumbfounded, at all the emotions that Lila just went through. Alya was comforting the girl saying that she wasn’t a horrible person and that no one here would lie to her.

“Oh, you’re right! I’m sorry, Marinette! I do hope you could forgive me for my traumatic past,” Lila said again.

“Uh… yeah sure?” Marinette was still a bit shocked that she would have to go through this again.

“How are you, Marinette?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you not going to ask how I am? That’s very rude in Italian culture, you know?” (A/N - I don’t know if this is true or not.)

“How are you?” Marinette asked, in a monotone voice.

“Oh! I’m the best! Damiboo is very glad that he gets to see me again! He’s taking me out for a date, tonight!”

“Wait. Alya, so you’ll be free tonight?” Marinette asked, ignoring the bullshit that just came out of Lila’s mouth.

“Yup! We can hangout! You need to show me, Gotham!” Marinette and Alya discussed plans while Lila tried to interject by talking about Damiboo. When she said it was a surprise and that she didn’t know where she was going, she couldn’t talk about it anymore unless she tried to contradict herself.

They kept talking until the tour guide came in. 

“Dick?”

“Marinette? What are you doing here?” He asked in English.

“Of course, Marinette is friendly with the staff. Everyone needs to start somewhere, I suppose,” Lila said. Marinette glared at her.

“One of my friends, Alya, is in this class and since she’s from Paris, we don’t see each other,” Marinette said. Alya waved.

“Speaking of Paris-“

“I did get the recipe for the vegan chocolate cake, I’ll send it to you!”

“Thanks, Nette.”

“Nette?”

“It’s your new name, now. Okay, everyone, my name is Richard Grayson! I will be your tour guide for today! Your original tour guide is sick so I’m taking her place.” He continued talking, in French, about the tour and Marinette returned to Alya’s side.

“How do you know him?” Alya asked.

“Oh my god! Are you dating him? He’s like twice our age! Have you had sex with him? That’s illegal, right?” Lila said, loud enough that everyone else heard. Their teacher glared at them before turning back. No one else paid attention to them. Dick raised an eyebrow before continuing. 

“Ew! Of course, I’m not dating him! I’m friends with two of his brothers.”

“How old are the brothers?” Lila asked, smiling.

“Eighteen and twenty-two? Why?”

“Just checking,” Lila said. Marinette wanted to punch her. Alya ignored all the looks that Lila and Marinette were shooting each other. They walked around, Alya was taking notes. Lila wasn’t because of her broken wrist that she got when she was sparring with Superman. 

Dick chuckled when he heard that.

Whenever Lila started sprouting bullshit, Marinette would just move near Dick and talk or listen to him.

“Can I please get some water, Mr. Grayson?” Lila asked.

“Sure? There’s a water fountain in the next room.”

“Actually, my wrist is broken. Can you get it for me?”

“I’m sure that one of your classmates can get you some.”

“I don’t think Mr. Wayne will like one of his employees being mean to his son’s girlfriend!” Dick raised an eyebrow.

“You know Bruce Wayne?”

“Yes, I’m dating Damian Wayne!”

“Sure you are.”

“Mr. Wayne will not hesitate to fire you because you’re being mean to me. I’ll forgive you if you grab me some water.”

“Moving on!” Dick keeps talking. Lila scowls.

“Don’t worry, girl. I’ll just get the water for you!” Alya said.

Lila was quiet for the rest of the tour. When it was finally over, Marinette left Alya and Lila to whatever the class was supposed to do. Marinette promised to pick Alya up at seven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette showed up at the hotel to pick up Alya.

“Alya!” Alya saw her and ran over to her.

“Hey! Did you see Lila running off? She looked gorgeous!”

“No, I didn’t see her. Can we not talk about her?” They continued to walk.

“Why don’t you like Lila?”

“She’s a liar. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.”

“Come on! Why are her stories so hard to believe?”

“Because they’re not real?”

“I know that they’re a bit… exaggerated, but I doubt that she’s lying!”

“Have you seen her stories ever be confirmed?”

“Lila is a private person!”

“She went on the Ladyblog and told everyone that she was Ladybug’s best friend.”

“She’s coming out of her shell?” Marinette gave Alya a deadpan look.

“That part is weird, yes. But, I do think that she knows celebrities. I mean look at you! You know Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Audrey Bourgeois and Gabriel Agreste!”

“I only know Audrey Bourgeois because of Chloe and I only know Gabriel Agreste because of Adrien.”

“Yeah! Look at our class! It’s not that far-fetched.”

“I just don’t believe her. Can we talk about other things like your new blog! What’s it about?”

“Celebrities! Now, I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t a gossip blog, it’s actual news. Like the Grammys! Who got nominated and for what.” Alya kept talking and they started walking around some shops.

“How are you and Nino?” Marinette asked.

“Better! I mean, your advice really helped. Taking some time to ourselves before continuing an argument is going really well. How are you and Adrien?”

“I’m great. Adrien’s great. Sabrina and Chloe, my other roommates, are also great.”

“You know that’s not what I meant. Being roommates with your crush? How’s it going?” Alya teased.

“Having roommates is pretty fun. Especially when two of them are rich kids.”

“Not what I meant. But, by your answers, it’s clearly not going well.”

“Adrien and I tried dating, it felt weird. We broke up. End of story. He’s like my brother.”

“When did you guys date?” Alya said, confused.

“I don’t know, we dated for a month around the beginning of this year.”

“Why did you break up? You two are perfect for each other!”

“How?”

“You two both like fashion, you’re both helpful and… uh… you-”

“Adrien doesn’t even like fashion.”

“Okay, but still!”

“Alya, why do you even want us to get together?”

“You two are just so caring and nice and I’d think you’d be great together!”

“I suppose! Oh! You will be here for the Wayne Gala, right?”

“Yup!”

“Okay, so what colour should the dress be?”

“What?”

“I’m making your dress.”

“I already have a dress.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, the one you made for my eighteenth birthday! It’s beautiful and perfect for a gala!” Marinette thought about the dress that she made. It was a dark red ball gown with black butterflies on the lower end of the dress. Alya hadn’t worn it yet and it would be perfect for a gala. 

“I guess. Well, let’s go buy some accessories for the dress!” They were together for another hour before splitting up. 

Marinette agreed to hang out with Alya, again, the next day. And if she was going to hang out with Alya, she would have to hang out with, the devil herself, Lila.

“It will be alright Marinette! I have a feeling that tomorrow will be fun!” Tikki said. Marinette raised an eyebrow. How could hanging out with Lila be fun?

Marinette shrugged it off and decided to work on some MDC Originals for the Waynes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Marinette was about to go to bed at… two am! Damn, was it that late already? Tikki was asleep on one of the shelves, next to the other dozen kwamis. She had just finished all of her homework and work. She facetimed Damian who, surprisingly, picked up.

“Angel?” Damian asked in a gruff voice, he clearly just woke up. As Marinette looked at him, she saw that he was shirtless and blushed.

“I- I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out tomorrow or today, since, apparently it’s past twelve,” Marinette rambled on.

“Wait. Do you mean to tell me that you haven’t gone to bed, yet?” Damian asked.

“Uh. No?” Marinette said, moving around.

“Go. To. Bed.”

“Before I do that, do you want to hang out with me today?”

“Why?” 

“I have to do something I really don’t want to and I wanna hang out with you!”

“Tt. Sure, Angel. Can you go to bed now?”

“Yeah, I probably should do that. Good night, Dami. See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Angel.”

Marinette cut the call and fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Damian agreed to hang out with Marinette at two am, he didn’t expect whatever this was. He was hoping that it would only be the two of them. Not because he likes Marinette! He just doesn’t like being with more than one person at a time. His family was a rare exception.

Chloe was with Marinette because as soon as she found Damian Wayne was coming with them, she had to come along!

Chloe wandered off as soon as they arrived. She told them to call her back whenever the wicked witch was here.

“Why am I here?” Damian asked.

“Well, I didn’t think that Chloe would join me so I invited you!”

“You said something about doing something that you didn’t want to do.”

“I have to hang out with Lila, today.”

“Who is Lila and why do you have to hang out with her?”

“Lila’s a girl who lies with every breath and she’s friends with Alya and follows her everywhere.”

“That doesn’t explain why you have to hang out with her.”

“Because I want to hang out with Alya and Lila is always with her.”

“So, you dragged me into this mess of jealousy?”

“Does no one remember me putting aside my feelings for Adrien when he wanted to go on a date with Kagami?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“So, this is jealousy?”

“No! Jeez, you steal a phone, a few times and suddenly, that’s all your known for!”

“You stole a phone?”

“Twice! The first time, it was to delete a voicemail and I gave it back immediately. The second time, it was because I accidentally deleted an important thing on Alya’s phone. It was fine, I made it up to her.”

Damian was speechless.

“That’s insane,” Damian said.

“Yeah. That was a… weird time in my life. I told both of them what happened and they just laughed it off. Oh, look, they’re here. Chloe!” Chloe showed up and saw Alya and Lila approaching them.

“Hey! Oh, Chloe.”

“Cesaire. Rossi.”

“Uh, who are you?” Lila asked.

“This is my friend, Damian.”

“I am not your friend, Angel.”

“Angel?” Alya asked.

“Damian must be a common name in Gotham. Speaking of Damians, Damian Wayne proposed last night!” Chloe smirked and pulled out her phone to start recording. Marinette understood why she wanted to come here in the first place.

Damian was starting to see Marinette’s point about Lila being a liar.

“Where’s the ring?” Chloe said.

“I left it with Damiboo since if I wore it, I’d probably get robbed. But, it’s no big deal! Batman and I are very close. I even know his secret identity!” She practically screamed it in the mall. 

“Are you trying to say that you’re engaged to Damian Wayne?” Chloe asked. Damian was still silent.

“Of course! He’s been in love with me since we were eight! Gray Richards, Todd Drake, Tom Jasons, Tim Duke and Kassie Wayne, his siblings, all think that we’re adorable!” Marinette laughed and Damian snickered.

“Laughing? I knew that you didn’t like me, Marinette, but mocking my relationship? Just because you would never be able to even meet Damian Wayne is very toxic.”

“Oh, yeah. I did forget to say hi. Give me a second,” Marinette said before turning to Damian, “Lila, your fiancee, says hi.”

“What?” Lila said.

“I said hi,” Marinette said. Damian smirked and took this as his cue.

“My name’s Damian Wayne.” Lila frowned, he could see her worry, though.

“No, you’re not.” Damian flashed his driver's license and Lila paled. Alya was red.

“You promised that you would get me an interview with Bruce Wayne! Do you even know the Waynes?” Alya shouted.

“I assure you that my father has no idea who this girl is.” Lila scowled.

“I just said the things you wanted to hear,” Lila said.

“You could have ruined our careers because you told us not to enter things because you would just ask famous people to help us!” Alya yelled.

“You shouldn’t have relied on me,” Lila replied.

“We didn’t rely on you! We were told by one of our friends that they would help us and that we didn’t even need to do anything. Of course, we said yes!” Marinette walked over to where Chloe was standing and looked at the phone. She was focussing on Alya and Lila’s fight. Lila threw some comments about Marinette, trying to provoke her, but Marinette stayed out of it.

The argument was ten minutes long.

“Ugh! This is all your fault, Marinette! You should have just accepted what was happening!” Lila said before stalking off. Damian turned to Chloe.

“Can you send me the footage?”

“Gladly.”

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” Alya said, she looked apologetic and defeated, “I should have believed you when you said that Lila was a liar.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad that you realized the truth,” Marinette said. Chloe scoffed. Damian was inclined to do the same.

“God, you people are lucky that Dupain-Cheng is so forgiving. Seriously, Marinette, you need to be less kind.” Alya glared at her.

“They believed someone over me, that isn’t that big of a deal,” Marinette replied.

“You almost got akumatized because of it! Multiple times!”

“Everyone gets akumatized. It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah, but if you get akumatized, let’s be honest, we’d be doomed,” Chloe answered, the implication was clear. If you got akumatized, Hawkmoth would win, immediately.

“You almost got akumatized?” Alya asked.

“Why is that so hard to believe? I do have emotions, you know.”

“Chloe’s right. I don’t think that anyone would be able to defeat you.” 

Damian was confused. Why would one person be able to defeat literal magic-wielding superheroes?

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“No, seriously, you’re ambitious and whenever you want something, you always get it. Combine the with powers and we’d all be doomed,” Alya joked. Chloe and Marinette were a lot more serious.

“I should probably go and get a new hotel room away from Lila,” Alya said after staring at Chloe and Marinette’s intense staring contest. Marinette brightened up.

“You can stay with us!”

“What?” Chloe shrieked.

“Really?” Alya asked.

“Yeah!” Marinette replied, “It will be like a sleepover!”

“Ahem. What about some of our activities?” Chloe asked.

“What activities?” Alya asked.

“Our jobs, school, clubs, we’re not home often,” Marinette said. Chloe looked relieved. 

“Oh. I won’t be there often either, we’re usually at Wayne Enterprises or at journalist companies to be interns.”

“Well, Angel, I think that this will no longer be unpleasant for you so I’m leaving,” Damian said, sensing the opportunity to leave.

“Fine. I’ll see you at our lecture, tomorrow.” Damian walked away. Chloe left after saying that she hated Alya and needed to show Adrien and Sabrina the video.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they got to Alya’s hotel room, the room was trashed like an absolute mess and Lila was gone. Her stuff was still there, but Lila wasn’t there. The two quickly packed and went over to ABDCR apartment. (A/N - A: Agreste, B: Bourgeois, DC: Dupain-Cheng, R: Raincomprix.)

While they were walking over, someone landed with a thud behind them. They turned around and it was a red, green and yellow fashion disaster. 

Their hair was red and frizzy. Their skin was green and their clothes were a yellow, gold romper. The romper reminded Marinette of when Style Queen turned people to gold, it was like whoever this was, their clothes were turned to gold, but not the rest of them. When Marinette looked into their eyes, they were black, entirely black, did someone rip their eyes out?

“Maribrat! Alya! It’s lovely to see you, again!” A voice like Lila’s said.

“Lila?” Alya asked, terrified at what had happened to her.

“My name’s no longer Lila. It’s ‘Sinner’. Not everyone’s a kind amazing person, we all have our secrets and especially, our sins. I’m here to prove them, especially yours!” 

She pointed at Marinette and started saying something, like a spell, a beam of light came out of her hands and towards Marinette. Marinette jumped out of the way, just-in-time. 

Marinette locked eyes with Alya and nodded. It meant that they should both run away and just get to safety.

Marinette got up and ran away in a different direction than Alya. Marinette ducked into an alleyway. Lila or Sinner was still there, making people confess to their sins. People were running in various directions, screaming. She made sure that the coast was clear before Tikki came out.

“What was that?” Marinette whisper-shouted, just so that no one passing by would look into the alley.

“I sense the Bear Miraculous is in use.”

“Bear Miraculous?” Marinette asked, she hadn’t lost a miraculous, had she? Also, bear miraculous? She didn’t remember ever having a bear miraculous.

“One of the miraculouses from New York miracle box,” Tikki explained, snapping Marinette out of her anxiety attack.

“Another miraculous from New York is gone?”

“The Bear Miraculous was like the Peacock Miraculous or the Butterfly Miraculous. It was lost when people raided the temple. This was before the temple was destroyed.”

“What does the miraculous do?”

“Well, the miraculous gives people strength with powers. It’s one of the three power-giving miraculouses. In the wrong hands, well you know what it can do.”

“So, what does that mean for us?” Marinette asked, despite knowing the answer. Tikki gave her a pitying look.

“We have another Hawkmoth situation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only eight days this time! Almost eight thousand words. That's around a thousand words per day. Please, be proud of me. 
> 
> Anyway, unfortunately, I'm going on somewhat of a hiatus. I have a lot of exams and projects going on this week so I won't be able to write and won't be able to post anything. I'm sorry! I hope you understand!

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my other fics. Tumblr: basicbisexualbitch


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